Primordial in a World of Gods
by BookishTen8
Summary: After saving the world from power hungry gods, Naruto seals himself away to stop further wars from destroying the world. However, after waking up a thousands years later, he sees his sacrifice has been for nothing. Villains cause death and mayhem all across the world while the heroes do nothing but lock them up just for them to escape again. It's the return of the Sage of Six Paths
1. Awake

**Author's Note: This world will be a mix of DC/Marvel/Image Comics.**

 **This chapter will be based off of the X-Men Apocalypse Movie.**

 **All my information and characters will mostly be based off of movies, unless someone wants to PM me an arc of a story line.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **xXx**

 _"Who's making all that noise?"_

Due to everything shaking around him, the figure wakes up from his long sleep, wondering how long he has been under. A millennium? Maybe two? Being asleep for so long will make everyone lose track of time.

Digging through his memories, the figure regains a few memories from before he hid himself away. After losing his train of thought for a moment, because of all the shaking, he manages to remember a few faint memories of a time that has long past.

He remembers why he's here, hidden away from all prying eyes and ears. He sealed himself away for the safety of those who wanted to use his power for greed.

Humanity.

From what little he can remember, the figure remembers of a great war that has taken the lives of thousands. Former enemies joined together to fight a common enemy who wanted to capture the most powerful creatures on the planet, the Bijū.

The Bijū were creatures of near limitless power, capable of destroying mountains and causing natural disasters with a swipe of one of their tails. On their own, they could take on armies and destroy countries. And the world's common enemy wanted to capture the Nine Bijū and reunite them to form the most powerful and destructive creature known to man, the Ten-Tailed Demon. Where the Bijū were creatures of near unparalleled power, the Ten-Tailed Demon was unmatched by all.

The next few memories are too blurry for the figure to see through clearly. While he may not be able to fully recall everything, he does remember the death and destruction that took place after the Ten-Tailed Demon was formed. What else he can remember is that at the end of the aftermath, he was left standing with the limitless power of the Ten-Tailed Demon within his fingertips. Of course, it didn't take long for his allies to grow lustful for his power, betraying one another for a chance to steal his power for themselves.

So, instead of starting another war, he chose the only decision that didn't involve wiping out all who stood in his way. He sealed himself deep underneath the earth's crust to not only hide himself from all the world's hatred, but to also take away the power of the Ten-Tailed Demon that is sealed within his body, making his power a limitless construct of Chakra. Hence, he has not aged a day since his self-exile.

With no company and little else to do, he has spent a lot of time within his own mindscape, practicing with all the abilities he attained from sealing the Ten-Tailed Demon within his body. After years of training, he has eventually mastered his power which has grown exponentially since his self-exile.

Incapable of remembering anymore, the figure feels the earth around him shake, once more. Only this time, it's much stronger than before. He can feel something or rather, someone pulling the earth upwards and they're attempting to take him for the ride as well.

Sensing wide-scale destruction on the surface, the figure decides to confront the one who's responsible and stop them.

Opening his eyes, the figure's sparkling blue eyes glint within the darkness of the underground cavern. Soon, his blue eyes shift in both shape and colour, changing to a set of purple eyes with a ringed pattern. Along the rings in his eyes are a complete set of ten tomoes in each one, spinning to life as he flares his Chairs.

In front of the figure, space rips apart to reveal a dimensional portal that is connected to the earth's surface. Taking his first steps with no hesitation, the figure walks back into the open world. Into a new age of technological advances and wonders.

The Sage of Six Paths, Naruto Uzumaki has just woken up and unknowingly, shifts the faith of the world.

 **( 1983 - Cairo )**

Xavier's crippled body can only lay there on the second floor of the half-destroyed house and watch as his students and friends fight against the Mutant God, Apocalypse.

They are all surrounding the Mutant God on all sides, attacking him with everything they got. Not only them, but a former member of Apocalypse's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is attacking her former ally from the skies. From what he can recall, her name is Storm.

In fact, it's Storm's contribution thar's actually helping them to fight against the powerful being. If not for her arriving and firing bolts of lightning on Apocalypse, he would've teleported away from them.

Still, even with Scott's optic beams, Storm's lightning and Erik's metal, Apocalypse remains standing. This is mostly because of the energy dome that he has surrounded himself in, incinerating anything that makes contact with it. As of right now, it's a battle of stamina between his students and the Mutant God. Sadly, he can tell that they are starting to tire from constantly using their powers, while Apocalypse remains calm and disposed within his protective shield.

Using his Telepathy, Xavier fights Apocalypse within his mindscape and for a moment, it seems that he can actually win the battle. That is until Apocalypse shows his true power by taking full control over the mindscape. As of now, Apocalypse enlarges his body and slams his own into the tile floor of his mindscape which has taken the shape of his manor.

What can they possibly do? Apocalypse is unbeatable in both the physical and mental world. What else can they do to defeat the Mutant God?

Xavier's thoughts linger on Jean and her inner power, but he banishes away those thoughts. While it may work, having two Mutants with Godlike powers fight each other will only end in more disaster. He can calculate that the best case scenario would be that they all died and half of planet would be destroyed in the process.

As he tries to think of another plan, Xavier's eyes widen in both the physical world and his mindscape. Just now, he has felt someone break into his mindscape.

"Impossible."

 **( Charles Xavier's Mindscape )**

Charles isn't the only one who notices the appearance of another person entering the mindscape. His enlarged body turns to face one of the hallways that make up Charles Xavier's mind. In his large right hand is Xavier who's struggling to break of his hold, and failing.

At the end of the hallway, Apocalypse can see the person who has intruded on his business. **"Who are you?"**

The intruder remains silent, merely staring at the Mutant God with a calm and calculating gaze.

From Xavier's position of hanging upside down in Apocalypse's hand, all he can see of the mysterious individual is that they have spikey white hair. He would try to get a better view but he's a bit stuck at the moment.

Apocalypse shows his distaste by frowning. Taking a step forward, the floor under the Mutant's feet shatters like glass, along with the rest of the mindscape. The Mutant God takes a step back, clearly not the one responsible for the sudden change.

What use to be Xavier's Manor is now a massive sewer with ankle-deep water and a massive golden gate which makes Apocalypse's enlarged body look tiny in comparison. Whatever may lie behind those golden bars is unknown to Apocalypse who can only see darkness.

The intruder stands in front of the cage and across from Apocalypse, seemingly unaffected by the sudden change in scenery.

 **"What is this?"** demanded Apocalypse. With a flick of his wrist, Apocalypse throws Xavier away so he can keep his full attention on the unknown intruder. While he does not know the man's identity, he admits that he is powerful. Not many can take away his control within a mindscape, especially not so easily.

Landing in the water face first, Xavier lifts his head out of the water and coughs, having swallowed some water by accident upon landing. With Apocalypse no longer holding him, Charles can now look over to see who the mysterious person is.

Immediately, he notices the man's odd sense of style, recognizing his clothing to be apart of the Japanese culture. The man adorns a white kimono that stops over his knees, showing that he's wearing black baggy pants underneath. On his collar is a design of six black magatama and unknown to Charles, there's also a design of a Rinnegan on the back of the kimono. For footwear, the man has on a pair of black sandals. Looking over the man's appearance, Charles notices how young the man looks, appearing to be in his early twenties. On each of his cheeks are three black markings, giving off the impression that he has whiskers on his face. The mysterious man's pale skin almost blends with his pure white spikey hair, but his most noticeable feature is the man's set of horns. He almost misses them since they are hidden within the man's spikey white hair.

 _"Is he a Mutant?"_

If he is, he's no ordinary Mutant, that's for sure. With his white clothing, calm expression and his powerful presence, he appears to be what Mutantkind's version of God would be. While Charles doesn't want to believe it, the mysterious man looks to be a much better representation of a Mutant God than Apocalypse.

He can only hope that he's on their side.

 **"I'll only ask one last time. Who are you?"** asked Apocalypse, voice full of hostility for the mysterious man.

Again, the man ignores Apocalypse's demand, although he does lift his right arm in front of himself. Pressing his middle finger against his thumb, the man snaps his fingers so loudly that the sound echoes off the walls of the sewer. The water surrounding the man ripples when he snaps his fingers, smoothing out the water across the sewer.

Almost immediately, an insane amount of bloodlust fills the entire mindscape, putting an enormous pressure on everyone's shoulders.

While he may not look it, Apocalypse is starting to strain underneath all the bloodlust in the mindscape. In all his five thousand years of life, Apocalypse has never felt so much bloodlust before. It's taking all of his strength, just so he doesn't show the strain it's putting his body and mind through. While the bloodlust is very distracting, Apocalypse doesn't fail to notice that the origin of the bloodlust isn't coming from the unknown man but rather, whatever is inside the cage.

While Apocalypse can remain on his feet, Xavier doesn't have that courtesy. The powerful Mutant falls onto his rear, shaking like a leaf while barely able to keep both his consciousness and sanity is check. _"T-This bloodlust... it isn't Human or Mutant!"_

Naruto frowns while he looks over the purple-skinned man in front of him, unaffected by the bloodlust. He can sense so much hatred within the giant and honestly, it makes him feel disappointed in knowing that even after sealing himself away, there are still those who want nothing more than death and destruction. Even now, he can feel the emotions of those across earth and a majority of what he's sensing are negative emotions of all sorts. "Even after my disappearance, humanity remains in turmoil" he muttered, somberly.

Hatred isn't the only thing Naruto can sense within the giant. He can sense the man's abnormal power and he's positive that it isn't Chakra. It appears similar to Yang Chakra, yet different.

Glancing over at the second occupant of the mindscape, Naruto smiles when he senses the lack of negative emotions within the man's soul. Well, other than fear, of course. It raises the man's spirits, knowing that there's still some good on the planet.

Somewhat growing use to the bloodlust, Apocalypse clenches his fists and glares at Naruto. **"No matter. Your actions speak louder than any words. You are obviously against me."**

The Mutant God takes a step forward and then another and another until at some stage, he's running at a pace that seems impossible for a man of his size. Once close enough, Apocalypse reels back his right fist and throws a punch straight down on Naruto.

 **"NOW DIE!"**

Naruto doesn't flinch away from the attack, simply raising a hand up to catch the punch. He does it so easily and with little to no strain that it surprises both Apocalypse and Xavier. While it's hard to tell for Xavier to know how strong the punch was, he can make an estimate from the way the water disperses from both men she the punch makes contact with the stranger's hand.

Naruto tilts his head to the side as he gazes up at the giant in front of him. "I don't know why, but you remind me of someone."

Apocalypse widens his eyes when he notices that his body is starting to shrink. He tries to use his own power to stop the shrinking process, but it's no good. He remains shrinking until the Mutant returns to his proper height, now eye-level with the unknown assailant. He winces when the man's hand tightens over his own, cracking bones in the process.

"I didn't like them."

Apocalypse tries to throw a punch with his free hand but stops when Naruto twists his wrist in an angle it's not suppose to be in.

 **"Stop this! What are you doing to me!?"** roared Apocalypse, disliking how powerless he's feeling in this man's presence. Not only are his powers failing him, but he has lost complete control over the mindscape. This has never happened to the Mutant God before and honestly, he doesn't know how to properly handle it.

Naruto stares down the Mutant God, making sure to twist the man's wrist even more so he can hear him cry. "I'm taking over."

Behind the golden bars of the gigantic cage, a large red eye with several concentric rings and ten tomoe opens from within the darkness, glaring down at Apocalypse with nothing but pure anger.

That is the last thing Apocalypse and Charles Xavier sees before the entire mindscape shatters and they're forcefully thrown out.

 **xXx**

Charles jerks up for air and scrambles up to the nearby couch, feeling his bones shake in fear. Once he's on the couch, the Mutant frantically looks around the destroyed building for a monstrous large eye. Once he realizes that he can't see the large eye or golden cage anywhere near him, Xavier happily sighs. His happiness is soon gone when he remembers where he is and the current events taking place. From his position on the couch, it gives him the perfect view of the battlefield.

Apocalypse recovers from being forcefully thrown out of the mindscape and emits more of his power. The energy dome surrounding him quickly expands outwards, knocking aside the nearby Mutants, including Storm and Magneto in the air. The Mutant are thrown backwards into buildings and through wall, while Storm and Magneto are thrown even farther into the air. While Storm falls on top of a rooftop, Magneto recovers while in midair and rights himself.

With all the annoyances dealt with, Apocalypse places a hand on his head to ease his growing headache. Being forcefully thrown out of a mindscape has given him such a bad headache. All of a sudden, his body tenses when he feels a shift in the wind.

Slowly, the Mutant God looks up and narrows his eyes when he sees the intruder a hundred yards away, standing on top of a pile of rubble that use to be a house.

Naruto's calm blue eyes look over his surroundings, noticing more people who possess the odd form of energy that isn't Chakra, although none of them hold a candle to what the blue-skinned man possesses. _"Actually..."_ Naruto glances at the young redhead, sensing something powerful about her. Her inner power is quite impressive, but that's not what he means. He can sense something within her, marking her for something. If he can compare it to anything, it's similar to how he holds the Ten-Tailed Demon in his body. Although, she only possesses a measly piece of whatever entity that's within her. He'll have to keep an eye on her.

Apocalypse narrows his eyes on the stranger, wondering why he can't sense the man's power. Many millennium ago, Apocalypse stole the ability to sense power levels from another Mutants, giving him the perfect method to search for candidates to become his Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. So, why can't he use that same power to sense the mysterious man's energy? _"If not for me seeing him with my own two eyes, I would think that he doesn't exist."_

Naruto turns away from the other Mutants to look over at the Mutant God who has been emitting his power to increasing levels. At first, he would've liked to end this confrontation peacefully, but from the amount of negativity he can sense within the man, he believes it to be past the point of no return. Only someone who wants nothing but death and destruction could have that much hatred in their soul.

So, Naruto appears right in front of Apocalypse, surprising the Mutant God by his speed. Apocalypse throws a punch, but it sails right through Naruto, indicating that Apocalypse just punched his afterimage. Sensing a shift in the wind behind him, Apocalypse quickly turns around, only to see the young Mutant who can shoot optic beams from his eyes. The young Mutant tenses, but Apocalypse dismisses the Mutant as no threat.

Again, the wind shifts to his right and Apocalypse turns, seeing nothing but the beastly blue-haired Mutant.

 **"Where are you!? Show yourself you coward and face the wrath of a God!"** demanded Apocalypse, shaking the earth from the amount of power he's releasing. The nearby Mutants all fall to their knees, losing their balance from the earthquake that takes place right underneath their feet.

"Very well."

Apocalypse's eyes widen when he hears the voice speak over his shoulder. Before he can turn around, a hand clamps down on his shoulder and the next thing the Mutant Hid knows, he's sailing through dozens of buildings, separating him and the other Mutants by miles. Apocalypse loses count of the amount of buildings he goes through but he eventually does slow down enough for him to flip backwards and slide to a stop.

Grunting slightly, the God of Mutants raises to his full height while his broken muscles and bones heal themselves. As he looks through the trail of destroyed buildings, he can see the annoyance is already in front of him, having travelled miles in seconds.

Having lost his patience, Apocalypse raises both his hands up, levitating all the nearby rubble and piling it all into one big ball. Then, the ball of rubble disintegrates into acidic sand. Thrusting his hands forward, the Mutant God sends the sand towards the annoyance.

Naruto has to crane his neck up so he can see the top of the giant wave of sand. Noticing that anything that touches the wave of sand disintegrates, he decides that it's probably a good thing for him not to touch it. Just as the wave of sand is about to engulf him, it spreads apart and sails past him in a safe distance, due to Naruto taking away Apocalypse's control over the sand. The wave of sand twists around Naruto stopping just behind him, hovering over him almost like a protective mother.

Apocalypse has barely a few seconds to realise what has just happened before he has to summon his energy shield to block the wave of acidic sand. While the sand can't touch the Mutant God while he's in his shield, it does start to bury him under the deadly particles, putting more weight on him by the second.

Figuring out that the sand is increasing in weight, Apocalypse retreats by teleporting to a safe distance so he can get his bearings. The Mutant God appears on the rooftop of an intact building, miles away from where his opponent is.

"Where do you think you're going?"

That is what Apocalypse thought, but he turns around and as much as he hates, the unknown intruder is standing across from him on the exact same rooftop. Apocalypse takes a step back from the unknown. **"Impossible! What kind of Mutant are you!?"**

Naruto raises a brow, curious over the term, _Mutant._

Apocalypse glares and aims his right hand at Naruto, firing a powerful beam of molecular energy. However, by the time the beam of energy is halfway across the rooftop, Naruto is beside Apocalypse and holding his offending limb upwards into the air. Naruto's other hand grasps Apocalypse's skull and jumps. The force in the jump is so strong that Apocalypse's body is struggling against the man's grip and the friction in the wind. Three seconds later and Naruto has jumped past the cloud, hovering in the air for a moment.

Pulling back his arm, Naruto throws the Mutant God back down to earth, watching as the Mutant falls like a falling meteor.

As the X-Men recover and wonder what has just happened, none of them notice the incoming Mutant until Apocalypse collides with the floor, causing an explosion of rubble to fly upwards into the air. Once the rubble subsides, everyone looks to see a massive crater in front of them. And in the centre of the crater is none other than Apocalypse, already healing from the damage.

Apocalypse groans as he feels his bones reset and his muscles stitch back together. Slowly, he opens his eyes to see Naruto standing over his prone body.

Naruto looks over the Mutant God in curiosity, watching as his injuries heal almost instantly. "Tell me, do all Mutants possess instant regeneration or is it just you?" It isn't like he's worried over fighting an immortal, since he knows several methods to dealing with them. However, as he watches the Mutant's injuries heal, he sees an image of a white-haired man in a black cloak with red clouds designs. He can't recall the man's name, only remembering that he once possessed immortality and had a seriously bad mouth on him.

Naruto adorns a thoughtful expression, thinking about the black cloak with red cloud designs. For some reason, he knows that the cloak has a deep meaning, but he can't remember what it is. However, he does remember the name of the organization that once used the cloak's design. _"Akatsuki..."_

 **"You..."** growled Apocalypse, angered over the man's blatant disrespect, as well as his overwhelming power. How can he be losing so easily when he is the most powerful Mutant on the planet?

Pushing himself onto his feet, Apocalypse's eyes whiten as he calls forth his full power. As Apocalypse releases his full power, the earth begins to shake once more, causing everyone but Naruto to lose their footing. Naruto remains in place, using his Chakra to stick his feet to the floor. The Sage of Six Paths watches in curiosity as the earth shakes uncontrollably and dark clouds start to cover the sky. The sound of thunder echoes while lightning is visible from within the dark clouds.

 **"NONE SHALL ESCAPE THE WRATH OF GOD!"** roared Apocalypse, raising both of his hands over his head, increasing his power tenfold. The Mutant God looks over at his enemy, feeling a little pity for him. After all, not many can witness instantaneous death. Using his full power, he'll be surprised if the country isn't split apart by the aftermath. Now, Apocalypse drops his arms down so he can unleash his full power.

Only for a hand to grasp his face, cracking his skull from the amount of force being used.

"So much hatred in one soul."

Between the gaps of his assailant's fingers, Apocalypse can barely make out the man's facial expression. What he can make out is his blue eyes changing shape and colour. What use to be a pair of sparkling blue eyes that are as blue as the ocean, are now a pair of powerful purple eyes with concentric rings and ten tomoe.

If he could, Apocalypse would widen his eyes in horror, recognizing those eyes as the same one from behind the golden cage. Even now, he can sense the almighty power within those eyes, dwarfing his own power.

Ignoring how Apocalypse's blue skin has gone a lot paler, Naruto summons forth the power of the Human Path.

As much as he tries, Apocalypse can't get out of his enemies hold. He tries to summon any of his many abilities and yet, they all fail him. He can't even teleport himself away, leaving him at the mercy of his enemy. All of a sudden, the Mutant feels something amiss with his body. For some reason, he almost feels... free.

Disliking with what's happening to him, Apocalypse tries to lift his hand to grasp his enemy's arm, only for him to realise that he can't feel his arm. In fact, he can't really feel much of anything. His arms, legs, chest and even face all grow numb, leaving him feeling like an empty husk. By the time he tries to pull away, it's already too late.

With a strong pull, Naruto rips out the soul of Apocalypse.

The surrounding X-Men can only watch the event take place, all feeling a mixture of awe, disbelief, horror and a little bit of fear. They all just witnessed an unknown man beat Apocalypse around like a rag doll and pull out what looks to be an ethereal version of the Mutant God. While they aren't sure what the white-haired man did, it's enough to finally put down the Mutant God, shown by how the man let's go of Apocalypse's face, dropping the Mutant onto his stomach with no sign of life.

Slowly, Naruto starts to absorb the Mutant's soul, including his memories. Once he absorption is complete, Naruto stands in silence as he watches all of Apocalypse's memories. He sees everything through the Mutant's eyes, watching Apocalypse's birth, his rough adolescent life, his discovery of his Mutant powers, his rise to power and even when Apocalypse's followers eventually betrayed him.

Not only does Naruto learn about Apocalypse's life story, he learns about the world and what has happened to it since his disappearance. In his mind is every little piece of information that has passed for the last two thousand years, giving the Sage of Six Paths an understanding of earth's history.

And he isn't happy with what he learns.

While history only dates back past two thousand years, most of it is filled with nothing but death and misery with humanity right in the centre of it all. Apparently, Chakra and the knowledge of it has faded throughout history, meaning that humans can no longer use it to cause death and destruction across the planet. Unfortunately, they have found new weapons to replace Chakra and the Bijū. Now, they use weapons and bombs to take away the lives of their fellow man.

And for what?

Resources?

Ideology?

Power?

 _"It appears to me that it will take more than my disappearance to make true peace come true"_ thought Naruto, glaring at nothing. While he may not notice, his glare has many of the surrounding Mutants flinch or tense up. _"Maybe it's about time I take a more straightforward approach."_ Before he leaves, Naruto glances at the corpse of Apocalypse. _"He could prove to be useful."_

Violet flames erupts behind Apocalypse's corpse, startling many of the viewing Mutants. Their surprise only increases when a large, white head pops out of the violet flames. The head is as large as a two-storey house and has a set of Rinnegan as its eyes. It's closed mouth unzips itself and opens wide before three hand-like tentacles reach out of it and grabs Apocalypse's body.

Naruto doesn't bat an eyelash as the King of Hell devours Apocalypse's corpse. Once its cargo is secure, the King of Hell retreats back into the violet flames before said flames disperse.

Naruto's attention is taken away when he hears the sound of a cocking gun behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he sees that one of the Mutants is now standing with him in the crater, aiming a handgun at him. If not for Apocalypse's memories, he wouldn't even know that the object she's holding is a weapon in the first place. From Apocalypse's memories, the Mutant who's threatening him with a gun has the ability to change her appearance, no matter the gender. While useless in a fight, it can be quite useful for assassination and recon missions. He knows, seeing as the ability is standard procedure back in his time.

He had sensed her move the instant she took her first step, but he didn't stop her. While it may appear arrogant, he admits that she is of little threat to him, especially when compared to the other surrounding Mutants. While she may not look it, she's actually terrified of him. With the ability to sense emotions, he can tell what someone is actually feeling, even if they're trying to hide their emotions behind a fake mask.

The blue-skinned Mutant isn't the only one who's terrified of him. He can sense the emotions of the other Mutants and they're feeling the exact same fearful emotion as their comrade, especially the crippled Mutant.

It isn't like he can blame them for being scared of him. From what he can recall from Apocalypse's memories, all of them were fighting the Mutant God together and failing to deal a scratch on him. Actually, the Mutant across from him is the only one who actually managed to do any lethal damage to Apocalypse, doing so by hiding behind the face of one of his allies before slicing his throat wide open. While that plan would've worked on most people, it didn't work on Apocalypse. The fatal wound only stunned the fake God for a second before it regenerated.

Hence, he left out the middle man and pulled out the man's soul, leaving the immortal body intact. Immortality does absolute squat when the body is lacking a soul.

"Who are you?" demanded Raven, glaring at the unknown individual.

"Stop it Raven!" yelled Xavier from the edge of the crater. His arms are currently wrapped over Scott's and Jean's shoulders, allowing him to move without the use of his wheelchair. He shouts at Raven, wanting her to get away from the obviously dangerous man. At this point, he's not even sure if the white-haired indivual is Human or a Mutant. No Mutant or Human could have defeated the likes of Apocalypse so easily.

Xavier attempts to take over Raven's mind so he can force her out of there, but he widend his eyes in shock when he feels something blocking his Telepathy.

Raven ignores Xavier, preferring to get the answer to her question. "I'll ask one last time. Who the hell are you?" she demanded, louder than before.

Naruto looks over the Mutant for a moment before he glances over to the rest of the Mutants. From their stances, they are ready to step in and fight him if he attempts something against the blue-skinned redhead. Not like they're in good condition to fight him anyway. While they hide it well, they are all exhausted from fighting Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen. Besides, he doesn't want to fight them anyway. He can sense the good in all their souls so that puts them in his good books.

As he looks over the several Mutants, his blue eyes linger on the redhead for a second longer than anyone else.

Space rips apart behind Naruto as he summons a dimensional portal to transport him away. He turns around and walks towards it, ignoring everyone else around him.

Of course, the rip of space catches Raven off guard and she fires a bullet at the Sage of Six Paths. The bullet never hits its mark, seemingly disappearing in midair.

Naruto stops when he's only a single step away from the portal. He looks over his shoulder at Raven and offers a playful smirk, opening his right hand and dropping a lone bullet. Afterwards, he walks into the portal which closes behind him, leaving a group of befuddled and confused Mutants.

 **( Six Months Later - Xavier's Mansion )**

"Never pegged her as a teacher" chuckled Magneto or rather, Erik Lensherr. No longer is he in his Magneto gear and is instead wearing common civilian clothing. He adorns a simple light blue blazer, a black shirt, a pair of simple blue jeans and brown shoes.

"True. But who else can teach the children on how to protect themselves?" asked Charles Xavier, humorously from his wheelchair.

Both men are currently underneath the recently reconstructed mansion, watching as the newest recruits for the X-Men train under the watchful eye of their new instructor, Raven. They are all wearing the uniforms that signify them as members of the X-Men.

After spending a few minutes watching Scott practice with his new visor and Pietro blurring around the training facility, Eric decides to get straight down to business. "Find anything on our mysterious savior yet?"

Xavier's proud smile drops as the Mutant sighs in frustration. "No, sadly. I've yet to discover any information on the man. Neither the FBI files or Cerebro were of any help. From what I've gathered, the man doesn't exist."

Erik frowns, clearly not happy with the lack of progress. "How is that possible? Cerebro was designed to find any Mutant on the planet." It sorta hurts the Mutant's pride, seeing as Cerebro is both his and Charles's proudest creation.

"As hard as you might believe, it's quite possible that the man isn't even a Mutant" answered Charles.

Erik folds his arms across his chest. "You don't actually think that would've mattered, do you?"

Xavier closes his eyes and shakes his head. Honestly, even if the mysterious stranger isn't a Mutant, Cerebro should've been capable to find the high energy levels of the man who managed to kill the Mutant God. Yet, Cerebro can't find any trace of the man. With no files, no name and no way to find him, it's like they're searching for a ghost.

"Dark times are coming, Charles" warned Erik, watching as Raven barks orders at the X-Men recruits. "We may not be able to see them now, but dark clouds are coming and I fear we won't be prepared when the time comes."

"And here I thought I was the psychic" joked Charles, trying to make light of the situation. From the tension in the air, it's obvious that he's choice of humour isn't appreciated. "At the very least we know he isn't hostile towards us._

"For now."

"What do you mean by that?"

Erik shrugs his shoulders. "As you said, we have no information on the stranger. We don't know who he is or where he comes from. All we have on him is his appearance and the fact that he killed the most powerful Mutant on the planet."

Xavier nods in agreement. "True. However, he didn't show hostility towards us in the aftermath. It isn't like he couldn't have killed us after defeating Apocalypse."

Eric turns and looks down at his friend's broken body. "I won't pretend that I know all the answers. All I'm saying is that we should be careful and prepare for the worst. What's to stop him from coming to your school and causing havoc?" he asked, waving a hand towards the open doorway where the X-Men trainees are practicing with their powers.

Charles swerves his wheelchair to face Eric, glaring up at Magneto with cold steel in his eyes. "Then he will be sorry that he came here to cause trouble for my students."

Eric smirks over his friend's reply, enjoying the man's overprotectiveness for the younger Mutants. "I'm just saying Charles. He's a powerful unknown that must not be overlooked."

Charles turns his chair to face the open doorway. While he doesn't verbally respond, the Mutant does nod to show he agrees with Magneto. He watches as Storm practices with his lightning manipulation, biting his bottom lip. "Do you have to go?"

Eric smiles, deciding to quit talking about the unknown stranger for now. He pats his friend on the shoulder. "You know I can't stay here. Not for long anyway." The truth is, he is still on the world's most wanted list for his assassination attempt on the U.S. President on national television. The last thing Charles needs is for the U.S. Government to come knocking on his door.

"Where will you go?"

Eric gives on last glance to the X-Men recruits, eying Pietro for a moment. Looking away, he turns and presses the button to call the elevator. "You're psychic, Charles. You'll know where I am" answered Eric, smirking in good nature.

Xavier watches his students train, never once taking his eyes off of them. "Goodbye, old friend."

Eric nods and smiles. "Goodbye, professor." With their goodbye said, Eric enters the elevator and heads back up to the surface.

Charles continued to watch as his students train under Raven, but his mind is thinking about different matters. He thinks back to his experience with the unknown man from six months ago. The man who has not only saved their lives, but the lives of every Human and Mutant on the planet and nobody else will ever know.

For a moment, a memory of that sewer flashes before Xavier's eyes, making him gasp and hold his hands together to stop them from shaking. _"That eye..."_

He has only caught a glimpse of the eye for only a short moment, yet it still made quite an expression on him. Whatever is behind that cage, it's massive, powerful and very, very angry.

As Xavier controls the shaking of his arms, he looks back to his students, hoping that whatever dangers come in the future, they'll be ready.

 **( Years Later - Gotham City )**

Many years have passed since the incident with Apocalypse and the world has eventually recovered from the destruction caused by both Apocalypse and Magneto. Buildings have been rebuilt, bodies have been buried and the world governments have taken back control of their countries. In the end, the planet seems to have been brought to a state of peace.

 _"Peace is only a temporary solution"_ thought Naruto, staring down at a warehouse as he hovers in the air.

Over the years, Naruto has watched on as events pass by him, without ever aging. He has witnessed babies take their first breaths into life, as well as the elderly take their last on their death beds.

He has also watched as Villians wreck havoc across the planet while the _Heroes_ fail to protect the lives of innocents, due to their incompetence.

Even after his sacrifice, Naruto has discovered that the planet remains to be the cornerstone of where evil lurks in every shadow. Across the planet, people continue to kill, rape and steal with smiles on their wretched faces. What's worse, evil has grown so out of control that it has given birth to those who have been labeled, Super Villians. They are labeled as such, because of them possessing either inhuman powers or special skills that make them a threat so large that regular police officers can't handle them.

That's where the Heroes step in.

And where Naruto's disappointment continues.

At first, Naruto is delighted to know that there are people out there who go out of their way to protect the innocent and fight the Villians of the world. His delight soon fades when he takes a closer look in what the so-called Heroes are **actually** doing.

While the people believe that the Heroes, such as the Justice League, are making a difference, Naruto sees the idiotic truth. The truth is, all the Heroes are doing is continuing the cycle of death and destruction.

A Villian would go out of there way to take the lives of innocents for greedy and selfish reasons while the Heroes would swoop in and defeat said Villain, supposedly avenging the people who have lost their lives. Yet, each of the Heroes make the same mistake by allowing the Villians to live and to be taken away by the authorities and put into prison. By doing so, many of the Villains would soon find themselves back out on the streets, courtesy of a very good lawyer, bribery or by a forceful escape. Once they're back out on the streets, they continue their killing spree and so, the circle of death and destruction continues.

While the Heroes may think they're actually doing good by keeping the moral high ground and not killing, all they're really doing is adding to the body count. By not ending the pathetic lives of the Villains, they're as accountable to the lives lost as the Villains.

If the Justice League won't spill the necessary blood, he will have to do it himself. After all, the Villains can't take away innocent lives if they're dead.

However, even with his Godlike powers, Naruto knows that it'll take more than him to actually spread his influence. That's why he will reform a long lost group that once brought fear and terror to the planet during his own time.

The Akatsuki.

And what better way to spread fear to the criminal underworld than by killing one of the biggest Villains.

Tonight, the Clown Prince of Crime dies.

From his position in the air, Naruto can count four of Joker's goons on the rooftop of the warehouse, all handling an assault rifle each and keeping watch for anyone who might want to bring the Joker to justice. In other words, they are looking out for Batman.

Many times, Naruto has watched Batman take down men like the four goons in half a minute.

For the likes of Naruto, it took him half a second to kill all four men.

While invisible to the naked eye, a thin, but powerful bolt of lightning bounces off the skulls of each of the four men, frying their brains and killing them instantly while Naruto calmly floats down to the rooftop. Slowly, he walks to an open window on the roof and jumps through it, landing on a overhanging catwalk and doing so without making any sound whatsoever.

The first thing the Sage of Six Paths notices is how annoyingly colorful the room is. Colours ranging from the brightest of colours has been painted across the walls with no actual pattern to it. To add to the warehouse's bright colours, colorful toys litter the floor, ranging from tiny robots to seven foot teddy bears.

The innocence of the toys are lost to him when he sees the few boxes of weaponry beside them, as well as the pacing and obviously angry Joker.

Glancing around the warehouse, Naruto sees that the Joker has five hired goons at his disposal with each one dressed as oddly as the room itself. Where one is dressed like a teddy bear, another can be found dressed in a cheap costume of Batman.

"That stupidly idiotic woman!" yelled the Joker, kicking aside a nearby teddy bear. Wisely, the goons remains quiet and pray that their boss doesn't ease his stress on them. The last time someone smart mouthed the Joker, he ended up in a barrel of acid and shipped off to who knows where.

"That bitch just couldn't stop herself from getting caught. Again! She best pray that she rots in her cell before I get my hands on her" growled the Joker while making clenching motions with his hands.

Just under twenty-four hours, he and Harley have been cruising around the streets of Gotham for a joyride, causing a few bits of mayhem at the same time. And as per usual, Batman shows up to ruin their fun. With his own great sense of humour, Joker found it funny to drive the car into the nearby canal to get Batman off his trail. That's just before Harley started bitching about not being able to swim. Now, she's back in Arkham and he's one woman down for his next bank job.

One of Joker's more braver goons steps forward. "Should I make a few calls and get her out, boss?"

"Don't you fucking think about it!" raved the Joker, disturbing the goon by getting into his personal space. Quickly, Joker's glare change to a smirk when he notices his goon's nervousness. "What's wrong with you? Never danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

Before the goon can make up an excuse, a kunai quickly finds itself lodged into his skull. Joker merely blinks as his goon drops dead in front of him. Glancing down, he sees his goon lay on the floor, dead and bleeding from the skull.

He actually finds the sight humorous.

Reeling his head back, joker laughs as the rest of his goons lift their assault rifles to the catwalk, expecting the see Batman, but Joker knows better. With all his years dealing with Batman, he knows that the last thing the masked vigilante will do is kill someone, no matter how annoying they are. He's living proof!

No! There's someone else hiding in the shadows of his hideout.

Someone new.

Someone fun!

Spotting a shade of white, Joker looks up at the catwalk and grins so widely that it actually looks deformed. "Who's this? A new player in our little game of cat and mouse? And you aren't even wearing a mask" he laughed, pointing at Naruto as if he's the funniest man he has ever met.

Naruto stares down at the green-haired man, feeling so much negativity within him that it's making him feel sick. For a moment, an image of a man with long black hair and wearing red armour shadows over Joker's person before it vanishes, making Naruto frown. While curious, he ignores it for now so he can accomplish tonight's goal.

After doing his research on the Clown Prince of Crime, Naruto found himself somewhat surprised to know that the Joker doesn't have any superpowers of his own. How many Villains can brag about being one of the best and not have the help of powers? What the Joker lacks in super human abilities, he makes up for it with his ruthlessness, unpredictability and clever weaponry. Even with no powers for his own, thousands of lives have been lost by the Joker's hands, each either being a man, woman or child. For every person he causes pain and suffering,, the Joker merely laughs.

Tonight, Naruto will finally accomplish the inevitable.

Tonight, he will avenge the deceased and _**kill**_ the Joker.

"I'm not sure you understand, kiddo but you're playing with the big boys now" said the Joker, reaching into his purple coat and pulling out a revolver with an extra long barrel. "So why don't you scurry on off, eh?" With a laugh, he fires his revolver at Naruto.

Without so much as blinking, Naruto catches the bullet in between his fingers, surprising the goons from his inhuman feat. Joker merely smirks at the sight.

Aiming, Naruto flicks the bullet straight towards one of the goons. In super sonic speeds, the bullet rips through the goon's skull, but it doesn't end there. With a small bit of Chakra manipulation, Naruto controls the trajectory of the bullet after it jumps out of the goon's skull and controls it to pierce through the skulls of the other goons. The goons soon collapse dead with a smoking hole in their heads.

Joker chuckles, seemingly unaffected by Naruto's efficiency to killing his men. "Well, aren't you a big ball of excitement" he laughed. "And here I thought Batman was the big boss in Gotham." Shrugging his shoulders, Jokers makes a run for a pile of crates.

Jumping off of the catwalk, Naruto seems to glide to the floor, watching as the Joker makes a run for the crates. He allows the Villain to do so, knowing that he can kill the insane clown anytime he wants. Following after him, Naruto slowly walks towards the crates, only to stop halfway when he hears the sound of an engine turn on. He raises a brow when the crates shatter as a bright purple car drives through them, bearing the Joker's sick smile on the front of the vehicle's hood.

Within the car, Joker laughs as he steers the car towards Naruto, intending to run him over. Yet, Naruto remains in place, staring at the incoming car with a blank expression.

All of a sudden, the Joker jerks forwards and bangs his forehead against the steering wheel when his car suddenly stops. "What the hell is the big idea!?" yelled the Joker, shaking his fist with one hand while using the other to rub his sore head. He stops what's he's doing when he sees that Naruto is standing in front of his car, holding it back with one hand. Literally, Naruto's fingers have dug into the car's hood, bending metal with the greatest ease.

Never once flinching, Naruto uses his one hand to lift the vehicle over his head, carrying the car as if it weighs nothing. With a simple flick of the wrist, the car ends up flying towards one of the warehouse's walls, performing several flips while in midair before crashing into the wall.

As the ruined car starts to emit smoke, the car's driver door is kicked open and a wounded, if not alive Joker crawls out of the wreckage. "I-I'm one f-for jokes b-but t-this isn't f-funny" muttered Joker with a dry laugh, before wincing from the deep cut in his hip.

The Joker stops crawling when he sees a pair of feet in sandals in front of his face. "You're still here?" he deadpanned.

Naruto doesn't reply, preferring to grab the Joker roughly by his neck and hoist him up with his feet dangling in the air. Activating his Rinne-Sharingan, Naruto summons the King of Hell behind him, much to the surprise of the Joker. The King of Hell opens his mouth wide open and a tentacle-like appendage shoots out and grabs the Joker's tongue. No sooner does the appendage grab the Joker's tongue that it starts to pull at it. The Joker must've found something funny about it because he starts to laugh, even as the King of Hell painfully pulls at his tongue.

Not long after, the Joker's insane laughter goes silent once the King of Hell pulls out his tongue, ending the life of the Clown Prince of Crime.

 _"Now that is done and over with."_

Turning away from the sight of the King of Hell devouring the Joker's corpse, Naruto walks towards one of the warehouse's undamaged walls to mark the start of change.

 **xXx**

Batman hums to himself as he looks over the odd symbol that has been etched into one of the walls in the warehouse. _"A cloud? Could be a symbol or someone sending a message. I'll have Barbara look into it"_ he thought, taking pictures of the large cloud symbol with the hidden camera in his mask.

Behind him, Bruce can hear the police and medical personal talk with each other with some wondering what happened. Just from a glance of the decorations, Bruce can make an experienced guess that the warehouse was recently used as a hideout for the Joker. Nobody else, but the Joker has the disturbing sense of humour to fill a warehouse with colorful toys and dangerous weapons.

 _"However, it's obvious someone else knew about this as well."_

He has already recognized the corpses to be former goons of the Joker. That isn't too odd, due to the Joker having the tendency to kill a few of his own men when bored, but what's odd is that the men were killed in strange ways. One of the five was killed from a knife that cut through his skull with the mysterious weapon missing and the rest were killed by a single bullet through the skull. He would suspect the perpetrator to be Jason or maybe even Deadshot, but that doesn't explain the four dead men on the roof who have their brains dripping out of their ears.

Glancing to the right, Bruce sees the Joker's car which has been thrown into the wall. From the cracks covering the wall and the damage done to the vehicle, it's obvious that the one responsible is someone who possesses super human strength or has technology which grants them enhanced strength. He doesn't miss the fingertip dents in the hood of the destroyed vehicle, meaning that the perpetrator caught the vehicle from there.

It's painfully obvious from the crime scene that the Joker was attacked in his own hideout.

Having already taken a blood sample from the blood at the crime scene, Batman frowns in thought. What really has Batman curious is who could have attacked the Joker. Not a lot of people are brave enough to actually attack the Clown Prince of Crime. Whoever does so tend to regret it almost immediately, but from the wreckage, dead bodies and blood stains, whoever did this is sending a message.

They aren't afraid.

With another hum, Batman turns and heads back to inform the League with what happened. While there, he can inform Barbara about the cloud symbol so she can start her search on it, as well as look over the blood sample he found.

 **xXx**

"There you are."

On top of one of Gotham's many skyscrapers, one of the city's most well known characters can be found.

Red Hood tilts his sniper rifle slightly to the left so he can keep his scope on his target who goes by the name, Big Daddy. Obviously, he could've searched for the crime boss's real name, but that would only cost him money and time. To be honest, him knowing the man's real name wouldn't change his fate.

Big Daddy is known in the underworld as an upstart crime boss who is starting to lead the underground slave trade. He is the reason why young women have been taken away from their families and friends, so they can be drugged up and sold innto sexual slavery for whoever has the wealth and lack of morals to do so. Of course, being in such a business quickly gained him the attention of the former Boy Wonder who is currently watching Big Daddy walk through the hallway of a skyscraper's thirtieth floor, directly across from the rooftop he's currently standing on.

Jason narrows his eyes as he watches the large man who is wearing an expensive looking white suit that's straining from his large stomach. As expected of someone in his line of work, Big Daddy has four muscular men in black suits surrounding him on all sides, protecting their employer from any threat that may get in their way. Sadly for them, they can't protect their boss from Red Hood.

After making sure that his aim is right and that the wind is light, Red Hood pulls the trigger and watched as his bullet pierces through the glass window pane before drilling a lovely hole through the temple of Big Daddy's skull.

"Nice shot."

Without even turning to see who that voice belongs to, Red Hood drops his sniper rifle and rolls away, already firing at the direction of the voice with his duel pistols. Foul bullets are shot and none of them manage to hit its intended target.

"Heart, lungs and brain. Impressive accuracy. If I was anyone else, I'd be dead instantly" said Naruto, smiling as the bullets hover in front of him, harmlessly. A second later, the four bullets drop to the floor, surprising Red Hood.

While caught off guard, Jason isn't known to quit so easily. Narrowing his eyes, he empties the rest of the clips in his pistols with each shot stopping in front of Naruto, hovering in the air.

"Enough of that." Without so much as a twitch, Naruto uses Magnet Release to pull Jason's guns out of his hands. As they float beside Naruto, the weapons crush themselves into two separate balls of useless metal before dropping to the floor.

This does little to discourage Red Hood who pulls out a large combat knife from the back of his pants and charges at Naruto. Thrusting the knife to Naruto's stomach, Jason finds himself even more surprised when the knife bends inwards before it can stab into flesh. Somersaulting away, Jason looks over his ruined knife and scowls under his mask. His knife has been specifically made by him to cut through Batman's wires, which can hold back the likes of Bane. Now it's a useless pile of metal. Trowing away his knife, Red Hood gets into a fighting stance.

 _"Whatever he's doing, it's related to metals"_ he thought, believing that is why his bullets and knife was ineffective against the man. Running towards him, Jason swings his leg high and aims for the man's temple. However, his limb is stopped by an unknown force before it can make contact. _"What!? So his powers aren't metal based?"_

Taking a step back, Red Hood throws a punch, only for him to be repelled backwards by an invisible force. Groggily, he stands back up and glares at the white-haired man who hasn't moved from his spot once. "Who the hell are you? Another member of the League?"

Naruto shakes his head. "No. Just someone who's looking for hopeful recruits."

"And I'm one of the lucky chosen ones, I take it?" said Jason, sarcastically.

"Correct" nodded Naruto. Naruto turns and walks to the edge of the building and Jason watches every step the unknown man makes. He notes how silent the man's footsteps are, lacking any sound. Calmly, Naruto stares out at Gotham City, sensing so much negativity within it. "Don't you want to clean the streets?" he asked, frowning at the large negativity source that calls itself Gotham. "End all crime in the city?"

"I don't know what rock you crawled yourself out of, but I'm already cleaning up the streets" stated Jason, folding his arms across his chest.

Naruto allows a small, but sad smile to stretch across his lips. "You are trying and I commend you for doing so. However, nothing you do will end the constant crime and death in Gotham." Naruto tilt his head backwards to avoid the throwing knife Jason just threw at him.

"And what? You think that what I'm doing is wrong? That we should just lock up the scum of the earth? Only for them to get out of prison and kill again? That doesn't work!" roared Jason in rage.

At one point in time, Jason actually thought the system worked. That was a time where he wasn't the infamous Red Hood and instead, Robin. As Robin, he worked with Bruce to take down the many criminals and Villains that litter the streets of Gotham and in his naivety, he allowed them to walk away, alive. It's only after his death by the Joker's hand that he realizes the truth in the system. And the truth is that the system doesn't work. After all, if Bruce just killed off the Joker before he became such a household name, he wouldn't have lost his own life.

Naruto faces Red Hood and smiles. "And I agree." Naruto doesn't need to see under Jason's mask to know that he's looking at him, quizzically. "You have taken over most of the gangs in Gotham so you can control crime on the inside. Whoever doesn't follow your orders, you kill without question. You kill Villains and criminals whenever you get the chance. I like that."

Jason narrows his eyes. "Then I take it you aren't with the Justice League." He says it as more of a statement than a question. Every member of the Justice League is as naive as he use to be and so, they wouldn't talk about killing the scum of earth so easily.

Naruto smirks in amusement. "If I was a member of the League, would I not try to stop you. After all, I did just see you kill a man" he said, looking over at the skyscraper where Big Daddy's corpse remains.

"True" muttered Jason in agreement. While he isn't willing to get violent, Jason makes sure to keep his guard up around the man. Something that Naruto inwardly applauds him for. "But how do I know you aren't just talking big?"

"How about I just show you?"

Before Jason can ask what he means by that, Naruto's Rinne-Sharingan eyes blare to life. Violet flames erupt behind him as the King of Hell rises from the fire. Red Hood takes a step back, ready to jump of the building if he sees any act of aggression. Naruto steps to the side as the King of Hell spits out a large object from of its mouth. Said object slides in front of Jason who looks down at it and widens his eyes in awe at the sight.

Lying by his feet, dead as a doorbell is none other than the Joker!

"No way..." gasped Jason in disbelief before he looks back up at Naruto. The man who has somehow managed to do what he has constantly failed at and killed the Joker. "Who in the hell are you?"

"Just a simple man who wants to change the world for the better."

 _"Simple my ass"_ thought Jason. No _simple man_ could kill the likes of the Joker. "This group of yours... what is it called?"

"Akatsuki."

"Not a name I would pick out but whatever" shrugged Red Hood. "And there are others?"

"Who share our ideology? No." Naruto looks back out to face the city. Batman may think he's doing the city a favour, but all he's doing is putting fuel into the fire. Families are destroyed every day because he refuses to kill those who are responsible. Now with the Joker dead, he can no longer continue his reign of death in Gotham, forever saving the lives of his future victims. And he's just a stepping stone. "But I can convince them otherwise."

Red Hood slowly nods and takes a spot beside Naruto, folding his arms across his chest. "So... when do we start?"

Overhead the unsuspecting city, the Akatsuki have been reformed.


	2. Recruitment

**Author's Note: There will be changes that I need for my story. Nothing too big but there will be more as the story progresses.**

 **1) First Robin will still be Nightwing but the Teen Titans from the TV show will still be Canon. Tim Drake will be the Robin in the Teen Titans.**

 **2) Cyborg is still a member of the Teen Titans.**

 **( Unknown Location )**

"Where are we?" gasped Red Hood as he looks around the new scenery of plant life.

One second, he's standing on top of a building in the middle of Gotham City and the next, he's in what looks like an underground cave with wide fields of grass and a gentle river that splits down the middle of it. The source of the river is a large waterfall that is pouring down a hole from the ceiling of the cave which is also the only source of sunlight. _"It wasn't sunny at Gotham the last time I checked!"_ thought Red Hood, remembering that it was the middle of the night just a second ago.

"This will be the hideout for the Akatsuki. At least, unofficially. It's untraceable so I highly doubt that anyone from the Justice League can find this location" said Naruto as he sits down on the grass and watches the river flow by. He has always found it peaceful and relaxing to watch nature at its finest.

"And pray tell, how did we get here? And where is here in the first place?" asked Red Hood, looking over at the stranger who he has yet to get a name off of. With the sudden intrusion and the discovery of Joker's death, he never had the chance to ask. "By the way, got a name I can call ya?"

Naruto stares at a nearby bed of lilies, contemplating on a name. Just like everyone else with powers, he's going to need a name or title. Someway for the people to address him when the time comes. "I'm... Sage."

Red Hood raises a brow from underneath his mask. "That's it? No overdramatic name like Superman or the Green Lantern?"

Naruto turns to look at Red Hood from over his shoulder. "I was gonna but Red Hood was taken." The sarcasm pouring out of Naruto's tone could literally drown the former Boy Wonder.

"Toüche." Red Hood snaps his fingers before eventually taking a seat on a nearby boulder. "You still haven't told me where we are and how we got here."

"For where we are, we're in my own personal dimension. Away from all prying eyes and open ears" simply said Naruto.

Red Hood stares at Naruto with a hint of disbelief. Yes, there have been rumors of the Justice League and a few others travelling through space and dimensions but he has never seen or experienced dimension travel before. Taking a closer look of the underground exterior, he does notice a few plants that don't look too normal, not even to Poison Ivy's standards. The bedrock making up the underground walls are also shaped and coloured wierdly.

"So you've noticed" said Naruto with a small smirk.

"When there are plants staring at you with sharp teeth and drool, you tend to notice" replied Red Hoof with a shake of his head. "So, I'm not one to hate nature and whatnot but when do we start?" he asked in a bit of impatience. There's so many criminals to kill and with a team, he could finally kill off some of the bigger names like Scarecrow and Bane. While he may be good, he isn't ballsy enough to take down the people who have a lot more men ready to handle him if necessary.

"First off, we must find more members. We won't be able to spread our influence with only the two of us" answered Naruto with Red Hood nodding in agreement. He needs strong and motivated members with a wide range of skills. He thinks of a few skills he wants in his group, such as the muscle and a technician.

"Any ideas on new members?" asked Red Hood.

Naruto hums to himself over the thought of who he should recruit. He has a few names on the list from a few rumors he has been hearing and it just so happens that a majority of them are occupying the most 'secure' prison in Gotham City. "I have a few ideas. While I'm out recruiting, you can stay here and get to know the layout. I shouldn't be long anyway." Before Red Hood can argue, Naruto vanishes from sight and disappears from the dimension altogether in search for recruits to join the Akatsuki.

"Jackass" muttered Red Hood as he folds his arms. With nothing else to do until his ride out of wherever he is comes back, the former apprentice of Batman gets up from the boulder and heads out to look around, although he makes sure to stand clear of the violet plants that are still eying him with hungry look.

 **( Gotham City - Arkham Asylum )**

Floating overhead of the infamous prison/rehabilitation clinic is Naruto. Keeping him afloat in midair are six Truth Seeking Balls that are floating behind him. Usually, he would have been seen by someone since a man in the air always grabs attention but with it being the middle of the night, the cloak of darkness shields him from any prying eyes. With the Rinne-Sharingan activated, he uses his powerful eyes to scan the layout of Arkham Asylum to see if there's anything that might hinder his progress for finding recruits for the Akatsuki.

Watch towers surround the corners of the prison with a thirty foot wall separating them. Automatic turrets with mounted spotlights scan the courtyard of Arkham from the towers. Looking through the walls, Naruto quickly counts fifty guards with only half of them possessing heavy armour and weapons. Several guards patrol the halls of the prison where the prisoners are held in small rooms with bullet proof glass acting as bars and shock resistance walls to prevent the more physically enhanced criminals from breaking out.

Naruto can see an underground passage leading into a complex underneath the prison. The complex is slightly smaller than Arkham's surface prison but there is more security since only the most powerful and criminally insane individuals are placed in the underground complex. It's in the underground complex where he can sense something strange. One of the many abilities he possesses is to sense emotions from within everyone.

However, the emotions he can sense from underneath the prison isn't normal by human standards. To be honest, he has never felt these emotions before. Not in such rapid and random patterns anyway. While he can feel the anger, sadness, grief and boredom from the other prisoners, someone doesn't seem to know what they're feeling. For one second, he can feel a burning anger until it changes to the worst sort of sadness before changing into bubbly joy.

 _"Well... that's a new one"_ thought Naruto, unsure but curious over the phenomenon. Without the need of a hand sign, a Shadow Clone appears into reality beside him without so much as a whisper of smoke. The Shadow Clone vanishes from sight due to using Jonin level speed as it heads off to do its job.

For a split second, Naruto considers to just go and kill the criminals that are currently resting in Arkham but quickly decides against it. If he wants to change the world for the better, he needs the support of the people. Just showing up and slaughtering the Villains won't exactly impress the populace, no matter how evil the Villains are. He needs to start it slow while getting the support from the population away from the Justice League and with the Akatsuki. Besides, they'll be dead soon enough.

With the layout memorized, Naruto opens a dimension portal beside him and floats in it to find himself in Arkham's laundry room.

He drops to the floor and calmly walks to the wall, beside the door. Just as he expected, one of the laundry men walks into the room with a trolley full of dirty prison clothes.

There's nothing significant about the worker as he looks to be in his late fifties with grey starting to cover the brown in his hair. The cleaner tips the trolley to spill the bags of clothes into a pile, not once noticing the extra person who is silently walking up behind him. After filling the trolley with bags of clean clothes, the cleaner turns around and the first thing he sees is a pair of purple ringed eyes with tomoes before falling into blissful unconsciousness, due to a small Genjutsu.

Before the cleaner can hit the floor, Naruto grabs him by the back of his collar and drags him to the corner of the room and places him behind one of the many washing machines. He even piles bags of dirty clothes on the cleaner to keep him out of sight. Satisfied, Naruto explodes in a poof of smoke and when the smoke disperses, it shows Naruto disguised as the cleaner. With a smile, he takes the clothes and heads out to the halls and walls by the guards who don't even give him a second glance.

Naruto calmly walks by the bulletproof glass cells and ignores the cursed and shouts from the prisoners while he pushes through the clean bags of clothes through the slot in the glass door which can only be open from the outside. All of a sudden, a rush of memories fills his head after his Shadow Clone pops out of existance. He had sent the Shadow Clone to find records on the prisoners and it didn't take him long.

It turns out that all the prisoners are ranked according to the amount of stars they have with five being the highest and one being the lowest. For each star, the more dangerous the criminals are nd it just so happens that he is walking by one of the five stars right now. From the memories of his Shadow Clone, there are only two five star criminals who aren't locked up in the underground facility, due to them preferring to not cause trouble.

Inside the cell, Floyd Lawton or rather, Deadshot is currently doing push ups while standing on his hands.

From the record, Deadshot earned his name from being the world's best marksman since he has never missed a shot with a gun. It is said that he has mastered the use of every gun there is, from the smallest pistol to the heaviest rocket launcher. He is also an expert with hand-to-hand combat as it is said that the has faced off against Batman several times in his career. While he isn't as destructive as the other criminals in Arkham Asylum, he isn't one to be underestimated as he is also known as the second best mercenary in the world, just before Deathstroke.

 _"Having a Marksman can be quite handy for the more... unique moments."_

The disguised Jinchuriki stops by the cell while Floyd flips to his feet and walks towards the glass door.

"Hey Frank, how's the missus?" asked Floyd while he uses the bottom of his prison shirt to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"You know, same ole, same old" replied Naruto with a smile before he opens the slot and passes the bag of clothes into the cell. To his surprise, Floyd suddenly grabs his arm in a tight grab with one hand while his other presses a shiv to his wrist.

"Your first mistake was actually speaking to me. If you did your homework, you would know that none of the cleaners would try to look at me in the eye. You would also know that his name isn't Frank. So how about we ignore the chitter chatter and tell me who hired you?" Floyd presses the shiv deep enough to pierce skin but enough to rest against a vein.

Naruto doesn't flinch against the small knife but is inwardly impressed with now he was caught. "Impressive. Nobody else didn't even bat an eyelash at my disguise."

"My eyes are sharper than most peoples when in my type of work. You still didn't tell me who hired you so if you want to leave with most of your blood I'd be telling."

"Nobody hired me." From the slight pressure into his wrist, it's clear that Floyd doesn't believe him. "In fact, you could say I want to hire you."

Floyd raises a brow in amusement. "Hire me? I don't think you can afford me."

"I think I can tempt you but not until you let go of my hand. Don't want any guards to get suspicious and interrupt us?" He can think of six different ways to easily get back his hand but all require some form of violence that he can't show off if he wants to recruit him.

Floyd makes a thinking expression for a whole minute before he eventually let's go.

"I'm currently recruiting members for my group. Congratulation, you made the cut" said Naruto with a smirk.

Floyd looks at the disguised Jinchuriki like as if he is insane. "You're insane! You broke into Arkham just to find recruits? The same place they keep the biggest baddies of us all?"

"The best place to recruit in my opinion."

Floyd gives him a skeptical look. "Can't argue with you there but why should I give a damn on joining some gang?"

Naruto took offence to that as his eyes sharpen which surprises Floyd but he doesn't show it. "The Akatsuki are no simple gang. We are a revolution. The Akatsuki will be the ones to finish what the Justice League started."

"Justice League? So you want to play with the big leagues?" asked Deadshot in humour. "Remind me again, what are the Justice League not doing?"

"The execution of all Villains."

All of a sudden, a cold chill washes through Floyd's bones. It's even starting to get harder to breathe for him while sweat that wasn't from his excercieses is dripping off of him. _"W-What the hell is going on!"_ thought Floyd, feeling his heart rate increase tenfold.

"That reminds me, I've checked your record. Seems you've done quite a few bad things in your life, Mr. Deadshot." Floyd finds an invisible pressure suddenly bring him down to his knees but as much as he tries to fight against it, it only seems to get heavier.

"W-What d-do you w-want?" asked Floyd through his gritted teeth.

Naruto glares down at the man who has done a lot more bad than good in his life. "I want for the world to change and you're gonna help me to do it."

 **xXx**

After successfully 'convincing' Deadshot and teleporting him to their base of dimensions, Naruto walks towards the end of the hall, where the elevator that goes to the underground complex is. Of course, there are two heavily armed security guards by the doors.

One of the guards sees the disguised Naruto walk over so he walks forward with his hand out. "This area is off limits" warned the guard. Naruto doesn't even glance at the man as he continues to walk towards the door.

"Did you not here me? I told you tha-" This time, Naruto does glance at him but with the Rinne-Sharingan. He places a Genjutsu which erases their memories of himself which works like a charm when the guard loses focus of his objective and goes back to his position. Naruto enters the door and into the lift before pressing the down button. After a few minutes of waiting the elevator door opens. Before leaving, Naruto uses his Chakra to reflect the light away from his body, therefore making it look like he is invisible to the naked eye.

There, he walks down the hallway, making sure to sidestep the guards who walk by him without noticing. While he walks halfway down the hall, he stops and turns towards a set of double doors. The reason is because behind the doors, he can feel the strange mess of emotions from before. However, being so close to the source, Naruto can feel a headache coming along. He walks forward and opens the doors to find the source of the emotional chaos.

He walks on a scaffold and looks around the large room. He notices the cameras that are all angled in every direction but pays little heed to them. Unlike the other rooms, this one has no guards but he can sense several live signatures in a room next door. In the centre of the room is a literal cage but it's what is inside the cage that has his curious attention.

Even after years of sleep and lack of human contact, Naruto still knows beauty when he sees it. Although, his interest for the pink-haired woman in the past may have been his only fault on the Mister. She wasn't bad to look at but in the inside, she was just plain ugly. He can't remember much about his experience with the woman but most of them are filled with bad memories and her physically hitting him.

The woman inside the cage has the pink-haired one beat in beauty by miles. She has smooth pale skin with no hints of blemishes, long silky blonde hair that reaches just above her round rear and she has a figure that could be compared to a model's. To the eye, she looks beautiful and could capture a man's interest with a simple glance.

Naruto knows better. Looks can very well be deceiving.

The woman has tied a blanket to a high cage bar from one side to the other. She's using it to swing and flip in her cell, showing off graceful that one would find from a professional acrobat.

Narutl walks silently towards the steps to the bottom floor while keeping his eyes on the woman. Even as he watches her flip around her stretched blanket with a serene expression which would make it seem like she's calm and enjoying herself, the emotions that's radiating off of her is telling him a different story. Even without the Rinne-Sharingan, his sharp eyes can see a strange aura surrounding her. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that from how the aura is rapidly changing colours, it indicates her emotional distress.

This impresses Naruto, seeing as not a lot of people show the capabilities to express their emotions in a spiritual manner. In fact, he notes how she's doing it in a way that a Ninja would express Killing Intent.

Naruto stops mid-step when the woman stops her twirls and balances herself in the air by gripping onto the blanket. She swings off the blanket and walks over to the bars while looking around the room with a curious expression.

Naruto immediately senses something very off. All the emotions that the woman was radiating off has suddenly vanished and now, she simply has nothing. He tries to sense something but all he senses is a hollow cold feeling. _"That isn't good..."_

The woman looks around the room, seemingly looking for something. _"What is she looking f-"_

"Who are you?"

While he isn't one to get jumped easily, he did have to stop himself from fidgeting as the woman looks straight at him, something in which should be impossible since he is invisible to the naked eye. He's footsteps are silent as weall, yet she can seemingly see him.

Harley Quinn is an odd woman.

Cancelling his Invisibility Jutsu, he makes his way down the walkway while keeping his eyes solely on Harley who doesn't break eye contact with him once. He walks down the steps and heads towards her cell while inwardly finding the woman fascinating. To the eye, she looks like a calm young woman with a playful glint in her eye. Inwardly, she is a wreck as her emotions are going haywire. Naruto stops in front of the cell, close enough to touch the cell bars if he wants. The pair just stare into each others eyes, seemingly waiting for one of them to break the tension.

Harley did the honours. "Are you a God?"

 _"Not a question I would have expected"_ he thought. Remembering the memories from the clone, he considers if he should stay or just leave her. Apparently, she is a highly skilled hand-to-hand specialist who uses her flexibility and her unpredictably to get the upper hand on most opponents. What he is worried about is that it read on her file that she is insanely devoted to the Joker and he doesn't just mean that figuratively. While she could become a useful and capable member of the Akatsuki, he can't exactly have the chance of her striking out at the group when she finds out who ended the Joker.

Not something he wants as she is said to be even more insane than the Joker himself. Being this close to her, Naruto can attest to that.

"No" he answered with a calm shake of the head. "Nobody can become a God."

 **( Security Room )**

An overweight guard is sitting in his chair with his legs up and eating away on a burger while skimming through the several monitors that makes up the security system for the underground section of the prison. So far, he hasn't seen anything strange and even if he did, he would have already been paid to ignore it.

That's why that when he saw someone standing in front of the cell of Harley Quinn and having no recollection of getting a bribe, he immediately stands up and presses his face closer to the monitor to make sure he isn't just seeing things. He reaches out for the alarm that would signal the security guards beside the room but another hand grabs his arm in a tight grip. Following the arm, the guards widens his eyes when he sees the exact same guy who is supposedly standing in Harley's cell room.

The guard opens his mouth to scream for help but Naruto's eyes shift to that of his Rinne-Sharingan and casts two Genjutsu on him. The first Genjutsu is to wipe out the recent memories of the guard while the second is to knock him into unconsciousness.

Naruto's Shadow Clone palaces the guard back into his chair and places his head on his folded arms on the desk to give off the impression that he's sleeping. Standing up to full height, he looks around the room that is full of panels and memory banks and walks over to one of them. He places one finger on the panel and releases a pulse of electricity into it. The electricity short circuits all of the connected equipment, destroying all the footage that shows his real self with Harley.

With that done, he opens another rift in the dimension and walks through it.

 **xXx**

"People say that Superman is a God" replied Harley with the innocence of a child.

"He's nothing but a False God. A man with overwhelming power that people consider when depicting him as some sort of God" he answered, ignoring the memories of his Shadow Clone. Being safe than sorry, he has looked up much I formation about the Justice League and surprisingly, Superman's information was a lot easier to get than anyone else's. It seems that everyone knows about the Man of Steel's weakness to Kryptonite, something that Naruto will take full advantage of when the time calls for it.

Harley tilts her head like a cute puppy until the innocent expression is gone when an insane smile erupts across Harley's face. Naruto can sense her emotions bubbling up and becoming more happy "You're a bit of a wierdo, ain't ya?"

"I could probably say the same thing to you" remarked Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders.

Harley leans back while still holding onto the steel bars and laughs like as if he just told her the funniest joke in the world. "You're a funny guy!" she said, pushing herself up and licks a bar in an erotic way. "I like funny guys" she purred with a flirty smirk.

Surprisingly, a chill goes up Naruto's spine but it's mostly because of what she just said about liking funny guys and her former fling was with the Joker of all people, someone who doesn't seem like a guy with a good sense of humour. "Is that why you hung around with the Joker?" he asked, wanting to know about her current opinion of the deceased criminal. What he doesn't expect is for her emotions to concentrate solely on one.

Anger.

"Mister J can go to hell for all I care!" she yelled, turning her head with a huff, similar to that of a child who hasn't gotten their way. "He knows I can't swim but he drove us into the river anyway. It isn't like he's nice to me anyway so why should I care if he doesn't?" she ranted with a scowl.

 _"Looks like I might be getting a new recruit after all"_ thought Naruto as he watches Harley rant about the treatment of the deceased Clown Prince.

"For what I can offer, I'm sorry for what had to have been out through. If it's any condolence, the Joker is dead." He instantly senses Harley bad mood suddenly shift to joy with a second of those words leaving his mouth.

"Really? Really? Really? Really?" she chanted, jumping up and down in her cell like a child pumped up with sugar. "Is Mister J really dead?" she asked with a lot of hope in her voice.

"I have his body to prove it."

"Can I see it?" she all but demanded.

"Maybe, but there's something that I wa-"

"Anything! Just let me see the basterds rotting corpse!" Harley pleaded while placing her hands together in a begging manner.

Naruto shakes his head with a small smirk. "Very well."

Using his Magnet Release, the bars for the cell bends apart, leaving a nicely sized gap for Harley. Naruto offers his hand for her to take. "Shall we?"

"We shall!" laughed Harley as she grasps his hand tightly.

With that, both silver out of existance, Harley's insane laughs bouncing off the walls as the pair exit the dimension.

 **xXx**

"No fucking way!"

"I didn't ask for your opinion."

"I don't give a flying fuck if you asked for my opinion or not! I am not working with a psychopath! Especially if that psychopath is the girlfriend of the Joker!" argued Red Hood as he points over the a giggling Harley who isn't paying him any heed and is instead, prodding the Joker's corpse with her foot.

"You'll be stationed in separate cities anyway so I highly doubt that you two will see each other often" said Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders as he forgos talking to Red Hood to the face so he can instead watch the river flow by in the cave of his private dimension.

Deadshot is leaning against a nearby tree with his eyes closed and arms folded, looking like the pinnacle of calm. Inwardly, he is feeling nervous which isn't a feeling he is use to. Nobody can blame him since not just twenty minutes ago, he was locked up in Arkham with no hope to see his daughter without fighting his way out. Now, he finds himself free but threatened into a group by someone he hasn't even heard of before. There's also the fact that the same guy who took him out of prison is the same person who killed the Joker of all people. Someone who he wouldn't even try to kill, not without nine digits in his bank account.

 _"When I get my guns, I'll make a runner"_ he thought to himself, planning to escape from wherever he is and return back to Gotham when the time is right. His eyes scans the small group around him, feeling certain that he can handle them all if surprised.

 _"If you try, I'll kill you."_

Deadshot opens his eyes, feeling startled to the familiar voice in his head that he doesn't recognize as his own. His eyes shift over to the owner of said voice who hasn't moved from his spot for the last five minutes. His eyes widens when the Sage's eyes shift from the river to meet his own for a brief second, although it's enough for him to know that what he heard wasn't just his imagination.

A portal opens up from afar as another Naruto walks through it with two boxes floating behind him.

"Good, your equipment is here" said Naruto, getting up and walking towards his Clone who poofs away into smoke and drops the crates.

"Now, that was cool" complimented Red Hood, pointing to where the Shadow Clone proofed away.

"Yay~! My stuff!" cheered Harley as she makes a beeline for the wooden box that has her name on it.

Deadshot eyes the crate with his own name on it, walks over to it and opens it up. He smirks when he sees his large arsenal of weaponry in the box, all nearly placed together with the few boxes of ammo he was carrying during the time of his arrest. Eying the only item that doesn't shoot bullets and explosives, he reaches for it and takes out a mask. The iconic mask that everyone recognizes as his own. He slips it on and sighs in satisfaction to the familiar feel of his mask's material and the view of his targeting device on the right eye of his mask. He reaches back into his crate and starts setting up his weapons for use again, starting with his wrist-mounted machine gun gauntlets.

Harley's swings her ass around as she has thrown her torso into her crate to fish out her own gear. She pulls herself out with her iconic red and black jester outfit in her hands. "I think I've outgrown this" said Harley with a giggle before throwing the costume over her shoulder. She jumps back in and squeals happily before she pulls out her hammer. "I found hammy!" she cheered while placing the hammer over her shoulder.

Naruto narrows his eyes towards the hammer. His sensitive hearing can detect a ticking sound that is starting to aggravate him. Activating his Rinne-Sharingan for a brief second, his guess is proven correct when he sees a very dangerous item in the head of Harley's hammer. He stands up and walks in front of Harley who looks up at him with a tilt of her head. "Could I see that hammer of yours for a second?"

Harley pouts as she looks at her hammer and back at Naruto. "But I just got Hammy" she pouted but gave him the weapon anyway.

Naruto nods gratefully before eying the head of the hammer. Everyone is looking at their 'boss' curiously while wondering what's going on with him. Naruto takes one side of the hammer's head and to Harley's horror, rips it off.

"HAMMY!"

"I'll make you a better one. I don't think you will want this one now" said Naruto as he pulls out the contents of the hammer. Everyone widens their eyes when they see a bomb in Naruto's hand. "I'm guessing this was a gift from the Joker?"

"B-But" stuttered Harley, her insane mind not able to comprehend that in her favourite weapon, which she got for her birthday from 'puddin', was a bomb. The same weapon she was using to hit against bodies and skulls actually had a bomb which could have gone off at anytime, killing her in the process. Growling, she snarls and runs over to the Joker's corpse before using all of her strength to beat up the Joker's corpse.

 _"I think I'll keep this"_ thought Naruto as the bomb pops away into smoke. Ignoring Harley releasing her stress on the Joker's body, he sits back into his spot.

"I knew the Joker was batshit crazy but that's just too much" said Red Hood with a shake of his head.

Ten minutes later, a panting Harley walks away from the bruised and broken body of the Joker and sits beside Naruto with a high-pitch, "Hmph!"

Naruto eyes her for a second before looking back at the river. "You have a bad taste on boyfriends."

"Tell me about it" muttered Harley with a scowl.

Red Hood and Deadshot jump up when violet flames appear beside the Joker's body before the King of Hell's head pops up and swallows up the battered body before vanishing again. Unsurprisingly, neither Naruto or Harley twitch as one is the one responsible for summoning the Demon and the other is insane.

"What the fuck was that!" grunted Deadshot as he aims his carbine at the empty space where the King of Hell once resided.

"Hell if I know. Sage summoned it earlier and it spat out the Joker's body" replied Red Hood, his pistol aiming towards the same spot before he sighs and places it back into his holster.

"If you two are done, we need to collect the rest of our group" said Naruto, amused over the scene. Harley giggles beside him, finding the sight of the vigilante and mercenary jumping up in surprise funny as well.

"And pray tell, who are the lucky ones to join our 'almighty' group?" asked Deadshot with a roll of his eyes.

Naruto ignores him but pulls a picture out of his right sleeve and throws it over to Red Hood like a shuriken. Red Hood catches it easily and looks at the picture, narrowing his eyes. "These guys look familiar" he muttered, trying to remember where he recognizes the three.

"They should. Your predecessor meets them quite often in the city he watches over."

Red Hood furrows his brow in thought. "That's right, but I can't remember their names."

"Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo" answered Naruto. "They aren't too experienced but with the right training, they could be quite a formidable group."

That is when Deadshot draws the line. "Hell no! I'm not working with anymore amateurs. This guy is bad enough as it is, we don't need anymore people who'll just hold me back" exclaimed Deadshot while pointing over at the former Boy Wonder who glares at the merc.

"If you want, I can show you how much of an amateur I truly am" growled Red Hood with his hand reaching out for one of his pistols.

"Kid, you're twenty years too young to even think about taking me on" threatened Deadshot as he pulls out a sawed-off shotgun and aims it at Red Hood who responds by aiming a pistol at the merc.

"Yay~, bloodbath!" cheered Harley while jumping up and down and cheering.

Before anyone can pull a trigger, a cold chill fills the air and a heavy presence falls on all of them. Everyone, even Harley quiets down as something invisible starts to tighten around their throats yet, they can't see what it is. Deadshot and Red Hood collapse to their knees, hands to their throats to somehow ease the slow and agonizing sensation. Harley gasps with a wide grin on her face, although the sweat pouring down her brow shows that she is finding the feeling as cold and painful as the other two.

"I chose you three because I thought that I was getting a team of killers who can do some right for the world. Instead, it seems like I just got a group of squabbling children who can't play together." Naruto's blue eyes glares at the trio before he pulls back his KI from suffocating them. Such a simple trick wouldn't have effected a Chunin but it seems to work a lot on the simple people.

 _"W-What the hell is this guy?"_ wondered Deadshot as he breathes in the wonderful fresh air.

"Now, since we've wasted enough time as it is, let's find some new members, shall we?" he asked, calmly. The others, except for a grinning Harley finds his stoic expression and calm facade disturbing. While it makes up Batman's character, he always has his mask and costume on to make his stoic expression terrifying. The Sage on the other hand is giving them chills just by his expression alone.

"S-Sure" said Red Hood, inwardly cursing himself for stuttering, even for a tiny bit.

"But first, you should all get use the logo of the AkatsukI since we'll be partners for a while." Naruto walks over to Deadshot first and before the merc can stop him, Naruto's palm touches the right side of his armour's chest. Smoke wafts through his fingers before he pulls his hand back to reveal the red and black cloud symbol of Akatsuki.

"Fucking perfect."

Ignoring the grumbling merc, Naruto heads over to Red Hood who shrugs his shoulders and turns around. He points his thumbs to his back and Naruto nods before placing the symbol to the back of his jacket.

"Do me! Do me!" chanted Harley while running in front of Naruto with a happy smile on her face. Naruto reaches his hand, only for Harley to grab it and pull it into her left breast. She moans as the symbol etches into the black and red fabric of her tube top. Naruto raises a brow but doesn't say anything as he pulls back his hand. Harley winks before cartwheeling away.

With a shake of his head, he looks over to the merc and vigilante. "You and Deadshot will head to Jump City. Find the targets and give them their invites."

"And if they say no?" Deadshot pulls back the chamber of his pistol.

"Then just return. Just because they reject my invite doesn't mean that I'll kill them." Naruto walks in front of Deadshot and opens his hand to show three rings. "Wear these rings at all times. It allows us to communicate with one another and if needed, press the top of it and it'll teleport you back here. For those situations you can't handle."

Deadshot takes a ring and eyes it curiously, or more likely the Kanji written on it. Shrugging, he places the ring on his left middle finger. Red Hood took his and placed it on his right ring finger while Harley put hers on her left index finger with a smile.

"How are we getting to Jump City?" asked Red Hood.

Naruto doesn't answer but a dimensional portal does open up beside Red Hood who looks through it and sees the city, as well as Titan Tower in the background. "Happy trails" said Naruto.

"There's nothing too happy about" grumbled Deadshot as he reluctantly walks through the portal with Red Hood. It closes behind them once they are fully through.

"Now then-" He's interrupted by a jumping Harley Quinn.

"Can we go and get my babies!? Pretty please!" she begged with a tear in her eye.

Naruto raises a brow since he doesn't remember anything about her having children in her file. "Of course, but I didn't know you had children."

Harley pouts up at the silverette. "They aren't my children, they're my babies!"

Naruto can't help but feel that he should have left the insane woman back at Arkham.

 **( Jump City - Hive Five HQ)**

Sitting on the large couch in the sitting room of the Hive Five's headquarters are Gizmo and Mammoth, two individuals who couldn't be anymore different if they tried. "What an absolute shitstorm!" cursed Gizmo, his tiny legs hanging off the couch while he has his face in his hands.

Mammoth sighs while leaning his large arms against his knees. "What do we do now?"

"How the fuck should I know!" yelled Gizmo, jumping to his feet on the couch. He grits his teeth as he looks around their empty base. After that whole mess with the Brotherhood of Evil and Teen Titans, everything has gotten from bad to worse.

It all started when the remnants of the Teen Titans attacked them before they could finish off Robin. They then started to release the rest of the Teen Titans from the ice containment and it didn't take long for Gizmo and even Mammoth to figure out that the Brotherhood of Evil was losing the fight. Themselves, including See-More, Kid Wykkyd and Billy Numerous attempted to escape through the battle early on but was stopped by none other than their former comrade and leader, Jinx who they've heard has joined up with the Teen Titans.

They just barely escaped from being captured but the betrayel of Jinx did not go well with them. Billy, Kid and See-More left yesterday to go on their own, not like Gizmo can blame them.

"*Sigh*, we can't stay here. Jinx knows all of our hideouts. It won't be long till the Titans start raiding them" sighed Gizmo, sadly. He can feel that Jinx's betrayel is hurting him more than he would have liked. They've been friends for years, yet it meant little to her.

"Seems like we came in the nick of time."

Both Mammoth and Gizmo jump away from the couch and turn to face the owner of the voice. Only, the two criminals find their voices caught in their throats when they see who is standing not just a few feet away from them in their base.

Deadshot leans against the doorway, looking over at the teens in boredom while Red Hood is standing closer with his arms folded, seemingly eying the pair for any uses.

"H-Holy s-shit" muttered Gizmo, sweat pouring down his tiny body as he tries his best to not twitch in front of the two biggest names in Gotham City. Even Mammoth is at a lost of words. While he may be physically stronger then the two, that doesn't mean that he stands a single chance against one of them.

"I think we broke them" chuckled Red Hood.

"Whatever. Let's just get this done and over with."

Red Hood walks over to the pair who have yet to move, their 'fight and flight' system having broken due to their fear taking over. He looks down at the tiny Gizmo and up at the large Mammoth, his eyes making an eye smile. "We've got a bit of a proposition for you two."

 **xXx**

The doors of the Hive Five's base explodes as Cyborg, Beast Boy, Jinx, Speedy and Kid Flash enter the room. Cyborg and Speedy aim their respective weapons around in case of a surprise attack. Beast Boy jumps onto the couch and snarls in his lion form while Jinx and Kid Flash walk into the room last.

"Good to be back" smiled Kid Flash, thinking back to the time when he invited himself in. Doing a quick stretch, he blurs around the entire base to look for the rest of the High Five but he returns to the rest of the group with his arms shrugging. "I can't find them anywhere."

Jinx looks at her boyfriend, a bit skeptic. "They have to be here. There isn't anywhere else they could be."

Cyborg walks over to the large computer and starts searching for any useful information that might have on the missing members of the Hive Five. However, he frowns when the screen darkens with a small Gizmo pixel laughing at them before the screen turns off and the controls sparks. "Great, the pipsqueak rigged the computer with a fail safe. Everything they have is fried."

Beast Boy converts back into his normal form and points his thumb to the door. "Come on, let's head back home. I'm sure they'll pop up sooner than later anyway."

"I guess" muttered Jinx with a frown. She tries to think back to any other base her former teammates might be at but can't recall any that haven't been raided by the other Titans yet. With nothing to go on, she leaves the base which has been her home for the last two years.

 **( Naruto's Dimension )**

"Gizmo."

"Yes, Mammoth?"

"I think we're way out of our league here."

"I know"

Gizmo and Mammoth are standing side by side with each other, trying to make themselves as small as possible. One of the reasons being that they have found themselves in some sort of underground cave with a lot of strange plants, some of them even looking at themselves hungrily. The main reason for their discomfort is because they are with three of the biggest names and killers in Gotham City, if not the whole country.

Red Hood is leaning against a nearby tree with his arms folded and his finger tapping his arm in impatience. Clearly, he is annoyed by something and is on the verge of making it known.

Deadshot is taking apart and fixing up a few of his rifles on a boulder.

Harley is laughing away as her 'babies' lick her face in joy. Said babies being her pet hyenas who are very happy to be with their owner again.

"Ah, it's nice of you two to come. To be honest, I didn't think you would agree" said Naruto from behind the pair of rookie criminals who jumps in fright since they never heard him come from behind.

"W-Who are you?" asked Mammoth with a bit of a stutter.

Naruto smiles slightly up at the large man, "I'm the leader of this fine group. You can call me Sage."

 _"This guy is the leader!?"_ thought Gizmo, frantically. If he is someone who can somehow control Deadshot and Harley Quinn, he knows that he isn't someone to mess around with. "W-We didn't really have much of a choice. Titans were gonna catch us sooner or later anyway. With us being in a different dimension of all places, I don't think they'll be finding us anytime soon." Even now, Gizmo is having a hard time believing that he is somehow in a separate dimension. And from what he could get out of Red Hood, the dimension is owned and created by the leader of the Akatsuki group.

Naruto nods. "Yes, I've heard of what happened between the Brotherhood of Evil and the Teen Titans. A shame about Jinx though, betrayel isn't something anyone should suffer through." Naruto frowns as his head stings as a certain memory flashes before his eyes.

Deadshot and Harley eye the Sage for a few seconds before returning back to what they were doing.

"Any questions while I'm here?"

Mammoth cough to clear up his throat. "This A-Akatsuki group... what is it?"

"Akatsuki is a group who will end what the heroes have started." Mammoth and Gizmo blink, unsure what he means by that. "In other words, we are to kill every major Villain and more, ending the circle of hatred in which the Justice League refuses to cut themselves."

It takes a second for Gizmo's smart mind to compute what he just told them. "Holy shit! Are you for fucking real!" shouted Gizmo, forgetting on who's in the dimension with him. "We don't give a fuck about what the Justice League does but to kill? Sorry to tell ya bug but I'm not into that." Mammoth looks over his shoulder and stiffens when he sees that the other three are staring at them.

"Umm, Giz.."

"You're fucking mental! What, we're gonna start killing off the Joker? Bane? Don't make me fucking laugh! Going against them is a suicide mission!" Naruto doesn't blink as Gizmo continues to rant, ignoring Mammoth's pleas for him to shut up.

"Aww~, is the little baby afraid to play with the big boys?"

Gizmo stiffens when he feels a thin finger brush against his cheek as the voice coos in his ear. The problem is that the owner of said hand is Harley Quinn who is grinning quite happily.

"Harley."

Harley pouts when she hears the serious stoic tone from her new boss. "Fine~" she moaned in disappointment. She smirks as she crouches down to Gizmo's height and whispers in his ear, "By the way, Sage already killed Mister J so I would watch my mouth if I were you." Ignoring the light glare from the Sage, she giggles and flips away to pet her 'babies'.

Naruto looks back down at Gizmo who looks to have returned back into his confident, loud self, although the hint of sweat shows that he now understands who is in the room with him and is probably contemplating on what Harley just told him. "While I cannot change your priorities or beliefs, I will admit that I need you for your technical genius. You will not be required to personally kill anyone. Just supply Akatsuki with gear and technological aid."

Gizmo frowns and thinks it over for a minute before he nods his head in agreement.

"Umm, what about me?" asked Mammoth, timidly raising this hand up.

Naruto turns to the giant and his lips twitch upwards. "While the Akatsuki have plenty of skilled individuals, there is always a need for muscle. Seeing as you have the strength of twelve men, with the right training, I'm sure that you can be a monster to be reckoned with."

Mammoth taps his chin with his large finger, admittingly liking the sound of that. However, Gizmo isn't yet done. "What about funds? I can't do shit without the needed equipment!"

Naruto closes his eyes and hums to himself before opening them, revealing his Rinne-Sharingan.

Suddenly, everyone finds their footing gone as the dimension shifts around them. Everyone but Harley shouts and screams in surprise while the insane woman laughs as they land on something hard.

Red Hood groans as he sits up and rubs his back to ease the pain. Feeling something strange, he picks up his hand from the floor and looks at it. He widens his eyes behind his mask when he sees that the contents of his hands are actual gold coins. Looking around, he finds it suddenly hard to breath when he takes in the sight of mountains of gold.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" yelled Gizmo, eyes widening in size while also drooling over the sparkling goodness which is gold.

"Is this all real?" asked Deadshot in disbelief as he eyes a gold coin between his fingertips.

"Yes, it's all real." Looking up, Deadshot sees the Sage slowly glide down to his side and wonders how he's doing that. "Think of of all this as encouragement. Everyone major criminal you kill, a nice sum of gold coins find themselves in your pocket" told Naruto, knowing that while his threat of killing him may be encouraging enough, there's nothing more encouraging than a man's greed. He is very thankful for the Creation of All Things Jutsu as it gave him something to do for the past ten years when he wasn't watching the world.

Deadshot stares at the Sage in disbelief before he gazes across the wide field of good coins. Unlike the other dimension, it isn't in some sort of underground cave as the sky is clear of clouds. The floor is literally just piles of gold coins while a few mountains and hills which are made of the valuable substance can be seen across the horizon.

 _"This could help give Zoe a proper future"_ thought the gunslinger as he thinks about the future of his daughter. A future where she doesn't have to suffer through poverty or die like so many others.

Unknown to him, Naruto has been listening in on his thoughts. _"Seems like the merc has a heart after all."_

Naruto looks over and sees Harley sliding down a hill of coins while her hyenas looks around in confusion. Mammoth is oddly enough, making angels in a pile of gold while Gizmo is happily kicking and throwing the coins in the air. "So, will this be enough?"

"Enough! I could very well kiss you!" yelled Gizmo, jumping up and down like a child pumped with sugar. With his small stature and bald head, it further gives off the image.

Naruto smirks slightly before releasing his Rinne-Sharingan and returning them back to his dimension.

"Aww~. I liked all the money" moaned Harley in disappointment from her spot on the grassy floor.

"Kill enough bad people and you'll be getting a lot of it" told Naruto, patting the sitting woman on the head.

Said woman smiles and pumps her fist up in the air. "Aye, aye sir! I make sure bad people go bye, bye!"

Deadshot returns to his seat on the boulder and looks over at the Sage. "So when are we gonna start?" Some can almost hear the anticipation in the man's voice.

Naruto shakes his head. "Not just yet. There are two more places needed to be filled. I have an interest on one possible member who I'll be looking into personally. Harley." Harley perks up when she hears her name. "There's someone in Gotham I want you to send an invite to. Someone who I think you might know."

"Really? Let me guess,... Batman!"

"Poison Ivy."

 **( Watch Tower )**

Currently, there's a meeting going on between the main heads of the Justice League. The topic being the disappearance of the Joker.

"There's still nothing about the Joker?" asked Superman to Batman who is attending the meeting through the large monitor while he's still in Gotham.

"Nothing. It's like he vanished in thin air" said Batman with a frown. Even now, he is trying to figure out what is going on in the head of the Clown Prince of Crime.

"Um, not wanting to be a downer but isn't that a good thing?" asked the Flash with his hand raised. Green Lantern nods his head in agreement as he doesn't find a problem with the Joker's disappearance. It just means that there are less people who he'll kill.

"Usually, it would be a blessing but the blood sample found on the crime scene has me worried" told the Martian Manhunter as he leans his chin on his entwined fingers.

"And the blood sample has what in common with the Joker?" asked the Flash with a raised eyebrow.

Batman narrows his eyes on the monitor. "It's the Joker's blood."

"Wait, you're not telling me that someone might have offed the Joker?" Flash can't take that to face value, not since there is nobody stupid or insane enough to possibly kill the Joker. Even thinking about it would get them a face full of his laughing gas. Not a very pleasant way to die.

"It's a possibility" said Wonder Woman, frowning. "We still have no leads on the Joker, nor the symbol of a red cloud."

"A new Villian perhaps?" asked J'onn.

"Or a possible new organization? We cannot ignore any possible outcomes, not until we find the Joker" said Batman. "I've already contacted the rest of the League and even the Titans to keep an eye out for the symbol and any word on the Joker. They've been advised to contact us before they attempt anything if they get any word on them."

"What about the X-Men? They could provide some eyes and ears for us" asked Barry before he shrinks from the withering glare that Batman is sending him from the monitor. Even if he's thousands of miles away from him, Batman can still give them quite a scare wherever he is.

"I refuse to ask for them for any help."

"Can you please not do this now" muttered Hal Jordan as he rubs the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming.

Everyone knows of Batman's dislike for the group of Mutants because they didn't accept the invite to join the Justice League as they prefer to be independent. Most to the League has no problem with the rejection, although Batman has a strong theory that if they aren't with them, then they are against the Justice League. Superman and Wonder Woman have tried several times to get the Dark Knight to let it go but he refuses.

"Look, we'll search for any news on the Joker and the symbol. If nothing comes up for a while, we'll ask for the X-Men's help. How's that?" asked Clark, hoping for his friend to agree.

Batman frowns on the monitor and with a grunt, his image disappears.

"That's a yes if I've ever seen one" joked Barry, getting up from his seat and stretches. "If you all don't mind, I've gotta run." The Flash disappears in and red blur as he heads to the teleporter so he can be back in time for a quick scope of the city before going on his date.

"We should probably go too. Our reservation only last for another hour" said Wonder Woman to Superman who smiles had nod his head. Both stand and head to their rooms so they can get dress in their civilian disguises before they can go on their date in Metropolis.

 **( Gotham City )**

In an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Gotham, Poison Ivy cooing over a few plants that lean in to her touch. She smiles as her 'babies' coo to her affection.

"Red!"

"Harley?" muttered Posion Ivy, surprised to see her friend out and free. Last she heard, she was arrested and put in Arkham after another incident with the Joker.

Harley runs past the trees and plants surrounding the abandoned factory and hugs Poison Ivy, happily. Ivy groans in pain from how tight Harley is hugging her. "Harley, I can feel my ribs cracking" she groaned.

The insane woman blinks before letting go of her and hits the side of her head while sticking out her tongue. "Sorry."

Poison Ivy sighs, although not feeling any annoyance to her friend. At first, it was annoying but overtime, she found amusement in Harley's antics. She just can't see why she always sticks around with the Joker, no matter what he does. She knows that the Clown Prince abuses her and treats Harley like shit, yet she keeps running to his side. She can at least be impressed with Harley's loyalty.

"Not that I hate seeing you but how did you get out of Arkham?"

"I got busted out!"

"Busted out? By who? Joker?" Now, whatever response Ivy expected from her friend, it wasn't her snarling and cursing the Joker's name with enough venom to make Batman wince.

"That piece of crap wouldn't even think twice of breaking me out! He can rot in hell for all I care!" Harley scowl shifts from that of confusion before realization. "That reminds me! I'm here to give you an invitation."

Ivy looks at her friend, feeling unsure if it's really her. The Harley she remembers wouldn't dare say anything bad to her 'Puddin'. "An invitation? From whom?"

"Why, the guy who broke me out of course" laughed Harley, thinking that it was somehow the funniest joke in the world.

Ivy narrows her eyes. "And this guy, did he blackmail or threaten you into being apart of his group?" If that's true, she's going to need to have him meet her 'children'. A vine slivers around her shoulder like a snake. Ivy rubs it and the vine rubs her cheek affectionately.

"Nope. I joined him from my own free will. Isn't that exciting!"

Poison Ivy frowns in thought. "But why would you join up with his group in the first place?"

"Because he killed Puddin'."

 **( New York City )**

"STAY AWAY!" screamed a thug, wearing a wife beater and a red bandana. He runs down an aleeyway, hoping to get away from what is chasing him. Unfortunately, his life is forfeit once he became the prey of a certain Demon.

 **"You spilled the blood of innocence. Now, I spill yours."**

The thug runs around a corner and freezes in horror when he sees a dead end. He looks around for some sort of exit but the windows are top high for him to climb and there's no doors.

 **"End of the line."**

The thug turns around and steps back until his back hits a wall. Sweat pours down his brow as his body shakes uncontrollably as the Demon takes a few steps forward. "S-Stay b-back y-y-you monster!"

Said monster is a skeleton wearing leather pants and a leather jacket. Surrounding the bones of the skeleton are ethereal flames which are somehow not burning away its clothing. Wrapped around its torso is a chain that is covered with the same flames that are enveloping the skeleton. To everyone who may catch a glance of it, they would title it as a Demon.

To the view who knows of it, they call it the Ghost Rider.

 **"Your hands reek of the blood of the innocent"** snarled Ghost Rider as he stomps over to the panicking thug.

The thug reaches to the back of his pants and brandishes a simple pistol and quickly empties its contents at the Ghost Rider. "Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!" he screamed, pulling the trigger over and over, even when it clicks when empty.

Ghost Rider stares down at his chest where the bullet hit there mark. The eight bullets are currently melting away from its intense heat, clearly having no effect on it. Looking back to its prey, it cracks its neck before stomping in front of the thug and grabs him by his wife beater. It lifts the crying thug up in the air and snarls. **"Look into my eyes!"**

For some reason, the thug couldn't resist himself and stare into the hollow sockets of the Rider's skull. However, he immediately regrets it as he starts to see the memories of all the people he killed. Unfortunately, is also feeling all the pain and suffering he did to those who he wronged.

Ghost Rider drops the thug whos lifeless eyes have smoke and fire escaping them, effects of the Rider's Penance Stare. Turning around, it walks down the alley to return to its bike but stops and looks towards a shadowed corner.

 **"I can feel~ your presence."**

A few moments later, a stoic Naruto walks out of the shadows. Inwardly, he is finding himself impressed with power of the individual in front of him and the fact that it can sense himself. He can tell that if they were to fight, the city wouldn't last too long under their conflict.

 **"You.."** Ghost Rider points a flaming bony finger at Naruto. **"Innocent."**

Naruto raises a brow before disappearing from view to only appear in front of the Ghost Rider who glares at him, seemingly not impressed that someone is in its way.

 **"Get out of my way."**

"Why would I do that when you haven't even heard about my proposition for you?" asked Naruto with a small smirk.

 **"Not interested"** said Ghost Rider, pushing past Naruto who doesn't try to stop him. It places two boney fingers to his mouth and blows out a high pitch whistle. The sound of an engine revving echoes throughout the alleyway. At the bend of the alleyway, the shadows scurry away as a flaming motor bike drives around on its own and stops beside the Rider who hops onto it and revs the engine before doing a donut to face the bike to the exit. Before the Ghost Rider leaves, Naruto's voice speaks up from over the sounds of the flaming engine.

"Not even if it involves the saving of innocent lives and the death of the corrupt and evil?"

If it wasn't for the fact that the Rider is a flaming skeleton, the speed that it turns its neck might have given it whiplash. Naruto stares unflinchingly as the Rider stares into his own eyes, seemingly looking for any deception or lies.

 **"I'm listening."**

 **( Naruto's Dimension )**

"Amazing" gasped Poison Ivy as she takes in the surroundings of the dimension or rather, the many strange plants that are calling out to her.

"I know right?" giggled Harley. "Sage says he made this place all by himself."

"If that's true, I wouldn't mind having a consversarion with this Sage" told Ivy, rubbing a strange purple flower which has a large set of sharp teeth. The flowerans to Ivy's touch, making the woman smiles happily and giggles a bit when more of the plants start to gather around her to get some affection as well.

"Where the hell is the Sage anyway? Shouldn't he be back by now?" asked Red Hood to Deadshot who is loading all of his guns.

Deadshot lifts a brow from under his mask. "What? Feeling a bit outclassed are we?" he teased, enjoying the glare from the former Boy Wonder.

"Well, when I'm trapped in a cave full of carnivorous plants and a woman who can control them with no exits, I feel sort of naked."

Deadshot hums but doesn't reply, preferring to get back to his guns.

Luckily for Red Hood, a dimensional portal opens not too far away which signifies that the Sage has returned. Only, nobody expects a flaming skeleton in leather to drive through the portal, leaving a trail of flames.

Immediately, Red Hood pulls out his twin pistols and aims them at the flaming skeleton while Deadshot does the same with his sniper rifle. Not too far away, Harley twirls her new hammer and grins while Ivy starts ordering the plants to prepare an attack. Gizmo is already in the air by using his jet back and has a misisle poking out of the side of it. Mammoth tenses, preparing to charge at the skeleton.

Ghost Rider lifts himself off of his vehicle and looks around the cave and its inhabitants. Giving them a look, he chuckles in amusement when he sees their weapons all pointing at him.

Gizmo blinks when he notices a certain mark on the collar of the Rider's leather jacket. "Wait a minute, isn't that the mark for the Akatauki?" he pointed out towards said mark.

Naruto walks through the portal with his usual stoic expression. "That is correct. Ghost Rider has agreed to work alongside us and to spread our influence while we're training."

"Training? Nobody said anything about training!" exclaimed Red Hood. "We can't waste anymore time! Besides, we don't need training!"

Naruto looks at Red Hoodm his facial expression not once changing. "Yet, I can kill all of you here with a single finger."

Deadshot aims his AK47 at the Sage. "Want to test that theory?"

To everyone's but the Rider's surprise, Naruto vanishes from sight, only to reappear beside Deadshot on the boulder. Another surprise comes in the form of Naruto shoving a finger into the barrel of Deadshot's gun. The merc involuntarily pulls the trigger but instead of a bullet splitting Naruto's finger, the bullet smashes through the back of the weapon, just barely missing the merc's shoulder. Deadshot stares down at his broken gun with a very shocked expression while Naruto looks down at him with a light glare. "Have I passed your test?"

Deadshot stares up at the Sage, happy that he has his mask on to hide his facial expression. "With flying colours" he muttered, unsure on what else to say. The fact being, the Sage just did a Superman on him so he isn't sure how to respond to that.

Naruto nods his head before noticing the extra in the room. "Poison Ivy isn't it?"

Poison Ivy doesn't respond, too confused and shocked to release a sound. Not because she just witnessed someone move almost as fast as the Flash or by stopping a bullet with a single finger. No, the reason for being speechless is because she can hear all the plants call out for the Sage in need. Just the way the 'children' call out for the man, like as if he is a god is something she has never seen before, not even with herself. None of her 'children' shows as much want and love for her like these plants do for him. A scary and sad thought.

"Red? You alright?" Harley asked her friend, tilting her body to the wide to look at Ivy's face from below.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine" muttered Poison Ivy, shaking herself from her thoughts.

"Harley, did you explain to Ivy about the goals of the Akatsuki?" asked Naruto, looking over to the insane woman. Said insane woman smirks and playfully salutes him. "I'll take that as a yes."

"She also mentioned how you are interested in me joining" said Poison Ivy, her eyes narrowing at the Sage while putting her uneasy thoughts into the back of her head. "Why would I join this Akatsuki group in the first place? It sounds a bit far fetch to me."

Naruto nods, agreeing with the Meta-Human's point of view. The reason he wants her is because of her natural ability to control plant life which can be handy for both defence and offence. Her pheromones can also be handy for interrogation since she can just control anyone she wants with a simple kiss, as Harley has told him about her abilities. His eyes drifts down to her stomach as he remembers another fact that Harley mentioned about Poison Ivy.

"Maybe I can help you with a certain... problem."

Ivy frowns and stares intently into Naruto's blue eyes, wondering what he means by problem. "And what problem do I have that you can fix?" she asked, ready to release her pheromones when he says the wrong thing.

"I can fix your ability to reproduce."

Whatever Ivy was going to say died in her throat as she looks at the Sage with eyes wide and full of surprise and possible hope. That is until she remembers the fact that no sort of technology on the planet can heal her from what Woodrue did to her. "Don't you lie to me!" she roared as the nearby plants come to her aid, surrounding her with a few sharp vines and throns aiming at Naruto who raises a hand to stop anyone else from attacking. "You can't heal what he did to me! Nobody can!"

Sighing, Naruto collects a very small amount of Nature Chakra and releases it through his feet. The Chakra travels through the earth and the effects are noticeable to everyone as the grass turns greener and the plants relax, ignoring the call of Ivy. Naruto steps forward to the frantic Poison Ivy who desperately tries to order the plants to attack him. "I can rid a body of all diseases, regenerate a missing limb and if I wanted to, replace a dying heart with a new one within seconds. If I can do all this, I am one hundred percent confident that I can heal your womb." He placed a hand on top of Ivy's head, being a bit taller than her and smiles. An honest smile in which nobody has seen for the past few millennium.

Red Hood, Deadshot and Gizmo glance at each other, all wondering if he can actually do that.

Ivy quickly realizes that her pheromones aren't working on him as he doesn't look at her with a daze look like so many before him who have been effected by her pheromones. She tries to push him away and to call him a liar but she can't. Simply being, she can feel the same energy within her 'children' from within the Sage but in such a greater number that she can't believe he's actually human. There's also the fact that he is saying all of that with such confidence that she can feel a little bit of hope dwell up inside her. To actually have a child of her own. A human child.

"W-What do I have to do?"

Naruto pats her head before taking a step back to give he back her personal space. His stoic expression now back as he stares into her eyes, making her squirm from the way that it feels like he's staring right into her soul.

"Swear your loyalty to the Akatsuki."

Page 29 of 29


	3. Purge

**AN: Another change, the Justice League are not sanctioned by any government.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **xXx**

Bruce Wayne murmurs to himself as he types away to his super computer as files after files pop up on the large screen. He has yet to change out of his Batman armour, something that Alfred has made sure to mention a couple of times.

A year has passed since the disappearance of the Joker and he has yet to find any clues on the whereabouts of the Clown Prince of Crime. There is also the fact that the blood sample he found at the crime scene a year ago was also the Joker's which just makes his disappearance even more confusing and worrying.

However, he may have finally found a possible lead to the Joker. On the screen of his super computer are several pictures and files about a certain Rider that has been causing death all over the country. Bruce narrows his eyes at the few pictures that were taken of the individual who has eluded him more than once.

The pictures show a flaming skeleton in leather, driving through the streets with its equally flaming motorcycle. There have been whispers about the thing a few years back but it wasn't until last year that it started to work double time on killing known criminals in every state and city. There were even a few times that it raided prisons, just to kill the criminal inhabitants while leaving the guards unconscious. While it may just be killing criminals, Bruce and the rest of the Justice League know that it's just a matter of time before its bloodthirst starts to target innocents. That's why the entire League has been told to look out for the Rider if they see it and to contain it if they can. Unfortunately, nobody has yet to meest the Rider, face-to-face as it always disappears by the time a League member arrives.

He clicks a few more buttons on the console which zooms the camera angle closer to the Rider or more importantly, its collar. Sitting on the collar of its leather jacket is the same symbol that was etched on the wall of the crime scene a year ago. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the disappearance of the Joker and the increasing actitivy of the Rider is connected.

Typing away, he brings up a few more files of other criminals that have disappeared from radar. Pictures of Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Deadshot and even his former protégé, Jason Todd. Near the time of Joker's disappearance, Deadshot and Harley were both springed from Arkham Asylum without anyone noticing their disappearances. Around the same time, Poison Ivy and Jason has disappeared from sight, something that isn't normal as at least one of them should have gotten his attention.

Bruce leans back into his seat and frowns in thought. _"But what's the connection?"_

 **xXx**

"We are ready".

"It's about fucking time!"

"Shut up midget."

"Want to fucking go!?"

"I'm surrounded by idiots."

"Hahahahaha!"

"Sshh my babies. Ignore them, they're all idiots."

"How have I not killed any of you before?"

"Maybe because you don't got the balls?"

"*munch*"

Naruto rubs his brow in frustration as his allies bicker with one another, except for Harley and Mammoth with one laughing her sanity off while the other munches away on an apple. For the last year, he has focused his time and energy on improving his allies skills and making new ones for them in order to diversify their skills in battle. While he trained the new Akatsuki on their roles, Ghost Rider did his usual thing and spread the influence of Akatsuki to show the world that he's just the beginning to what's to come. While his group of killers and Meta-Humans still act like children at times, they have the necessary skills and minds to finally make a difference in the world.

Naruto releases a portion of his KI to the surrounding area, immediately causing the bickering people to quiet down and tense up. With their attention on him, Naruto's Rinne-Sharingan springs to life before several dimensional portals open up around everyone.

"Let the Purge, begin."

 **( Jump City )**

On the motorway, four Titans are driving past vehicles left and right in a high-powered buggy, created by Cyborg himself. It has no roof or doors which is to make it weigh less so it can move faster. The occupants of the high-powered buggy are Speedy, Beast Boy, Hot Spot and Kid Flash.

"Doctor Light is at it again" muttered Speedy as he swirves the buggy around a truck and takes a right that takes them away from the motorway. "I sometimes wonder if the criminals just get more stupid the more times we beat them."

"Haha! Good one" laughed Beast Boy from the back seat, slapping his knee.

"Dude, I don't think he was making a joke" deadpanned Kid Flash from his seat beside the green-skinned Meta-Human.

"Let's just hurry this up. I ordered a pizza five minutes ago and need to get back in the next twenty if I'm going to make it back in time when it's delivered" said Speedy before spinning the wheel to swrive the vehicle to a stop in front of the bank which currently has a smoking hole through the centre of it. Luckily, any passerbys have run off at the first sign of danger.

Beast Boy hops out of the buggy and places his hands on his hips. "So, how we doing this? I go in all rhino with Speedy riding on me and firing off arrows like pew, pew and you guys run in behind us an-"

"How about I just run in, pick him up and we head back to the Tower in order to savour the taste of Speedy's pizza?" remarked Kid Flash before he blurs through the hole of the bank.

"Hey! That pizza is mine!" Speedy yelled through the hole.

Hot Spot eyes the surroundings but notices something odd. Walking over, he falls to his knees and narrows his eyes to the road. "Guys, it was Doctor Light who was seen robbing the bank, wasn't it?" he asked, curiously.

"Yea, that's what the caller said. Why?" asked Beast Boy.

"Cause I don't think Doctor Light has size twenty feet" he said, referring to the large footprints in the cement floor.

Before Speedy or Beast Boy can say anything, a yellow blur is thrown out of the bank and into the buggy, making a large size dent into it while also causing it to skid across the road. Said yellow blur is Kid Flash, groaning in pain as he uses the dented buggy to lift himself to his feet.

"What happened?" asked Speedy, aiming an arrow towards the entrance of the bank. Beast Boy has changed himself into a green lion while Hot Spot erupts into flames and has two fireballs waiting in the palms of his hands.

Kid Flash groans as he finally gets to his two feet. "Umm, I'm not actually sure. I think I just hit a wall."

Speedy shakes his head. "I don't think you hitting a wall will throw you outside the building." Before he can say more, an uneasy tension fills the air when they feel the ground shake for a brief second before stopping and continuing again. It continues for a few seconds until a shadow walks out of the hole of the bank with Doctor Light in its right hand. Everybody's eyes widens when they recognize the giant when he comes out of the shadows."Holy shit.." muttered Speedy in disbelief.

Standing outside the bank with Doctor Light in his large hand is none other than Mammoth, although with a few differences. One being that he has grown bigger the last time they've seen him. It actually looks like he has grown an extra two feet. As well as that, his muscles seem to have grown in size, almost looking like boulders underneath his long black jumpsuit with yellow stripes decorating it. Attached to both of his wrists seem to be a large cuff that are yellow in colour but glow an ominous red from time to time.

Beast Boy reverts back to his human form, scratching the side of his face. "So~, what now?"

Speedy answers by narrowing his eyes and pulling back the string of his bow. "Titans, go!" He releases the bowstring and watches as his arrow hits Mammoth to his chest with the tip exploding upon impact. Beast Boy reverts back to a lion and charges into the smoke cloud while Hot Spot follows behind him.

Beast Boy lunges at the smoke cloud with a roar, only for a large hand to grip his throat and carry him in midair. The smoke clears up to show Mammoth growling and tightening his grip around a struggling lion's neck. "Bad kitty" he growled before throwing the lion at Hot Spot who shoots fire to the floor to jump over Beast Boy to get to Mammoth. Hot Spot twirls in the air and throws two fireballs at Mammoth which explode upon impact. Landing, Hot Spot gulps when he notices that Mammoth doesn't seem to be effected by his fire. In fact, he looks more pissed than anything else.

Before Mammoth can attack, Kid Flash runs up and appears in front of Mammoth, hand on hip. "Hey big guy, remember me?"

Mammoth looks down at Kid Flash and instantly recognizes the person who not only trashed the Hive Five base but also turned Jinx against them. "You..."

"Yep, that's m-AAAHHH!" Kid Flash screams all of a sudden when he blurs away in time to avoid Mammoth's punch that has gone clean through the pavement. While the sudden increase in strength is slightly unnerving for Kid Flash who is taking a few uneasy breaths, it's the speed he did it all with that freaks him out. He actually felt the wind blow beside him when he barely dodged Mammoth's fist.

Speedy murmurs to himself as he launches arrow after arrow at Mammoth and watching his weapons either bounce off his chest or explode with non effects whatsoever.

 _"Whatever that jumpsuit is made out of, it's durable as hell"_ he thought, watching another of his exploding arrows do nothing but seemingly tickle the large Meta-Human.

"Uhh, where am I?" muttered Doctor Light, finally coming out of unconsciousness. He remembers blowing up one of the safes in the bank but before he could take anything, something hit him in the back of his head and everything suddenly went dark for him. Noticing that his feet aren't touching the floor, he looks up and sweats when he sees the largest man he has ever seen hold him up from the back of his costume. He blinks, recognizing something about the large man. "Mammoth?"

Upon hearing his name, Mammoth looks down at the man in his hand whole ignoring the arrows bouncing off of his chest. "Light" he grunted, clearly not happy.

"Okay, we're getting nowhere with this" said Speedy, loading up an arrow but not firing. He sees Mammoth lift Doctor Light up to the same height level and wonders what he is up to. _"What are you doing?"_ He gets his answer when he sees Mammoth pull back his arm with his fist clenched. "Kid!"

"I'm on it!" called out Kid Flash as he runs across the road and grabs Doctor Light before Mammoth's fist can hit him. Kid Flash appears behind a ready Speedy, Hot Spot and Beast Boy and drops a very pale and sweaty Doctor Light who is shaking on his knees.

"H-He was g-going to k-kill m-me" he muttered, feeling very terrified of the giant Meta-Human.

Kid raises a brow. "I wouldn't go that f-" Kid is interrupted when a shock wave from Mammoth's punch knocks everyone off of their feet and into the walls of the building in front of the bank. "Never mind" he grunted, prying himself from the wall.

"What in the.. he was actually going to kill him?" muttered Hot Spot, eyes wide in disbelief. He has never met Mammoth in person but the few times he has heard of Jinx talking about him and Gizmo, he has never heard of them actually trying to kill someone. Rob and injure people yea, but not kill them.

Mammoth grunts in annoyance while he looks across the road at the four Titans and shaking Villain. "That's my target."

"Umm dude, you okay?" asked Kid Flash with his arms up to show he means no harm. "You okay in the head or something? I know you're not the best of guys but to kill? Not cool dude." From his memory at raiding the Hive Five Base on the day he first met Jinx, Mammoth wasn't this violent. Yes, he is a bit stupid but not killer stupid. He'll need to have a word with his girlfriend when he gets back to Titan Tower.

"I don't think he likes what you just said to him" warned Beast Boy, noticing Mammoth's light growl. Unlike everyone else, he is feeling all his animal instincts roar and squeal for him to get away from Mammoth, something that has never happened before. Not with the usual hard head but there is clearly something wrong and not just with the increase of size and muscle mass. Something in those eyes of his are causing shivers to crawl down his spine.

"You don't even know who you're really protecting" told Mammoth, his eyes locked solely on Doctor Light's who hides his head back under the tipped buggy he's hiding behind.

"It doesn't matter who we're protecting, what matters is that we protect and save everyone from people like you" spoke Speedy with his bow and arrow aimed at Mammoth.

"Even if that person you're protecting is a serial rapist?"

This got the required reaction as Beast Boy somehow turns greener than normal, Speedy almost let's go of his grip on his bow, Kid Flash chokes on a bit of his saliva and Hot Spot widens his eyes before glaring at the buggy Doctor Light is hiding behind. What got Mammoth to grin is how Doctor Light's head pops out of his hiding spot and looks over at the giant of a man with guilty wide eyes.

"Is that true?" Hot Spot flares his flames, causing Doctor Light to duck back into his hiding spot.

"I-I don't know what he's talking about! Just arrest me and get him away from me!" screamed Doctor Light, more sweat pouring out of him.

Beast Boy feels his stomach churn from the obvious increase of distress in Doctor Light's tone of voice. "He's right, isn't he" he gasped, staring at Doctor Light in ironically, a new light. Not a good one. While he isn't one of the brighter Titans in the Tower, he does wonder how they have never heard of Doctor Light's newly discovered crime. "But how come we never heard about any of this from victims or witnesses?"

"Because he kills them all so nobody can ever find out about them" grunted Mammoth, eyes still on the upside down buggy. Beast Boy widens his eyes and shivers at the thought of such horror done by Doctor Light, a criminal that he thought of as more of a joke than anything else.

Speedy shakes his head and pulls back the string of his bow. "It doesn't matter, this changes nothing." The other three Titans look at each other and can see in each others eyes that something has changed but steel their resolve and prepares to fight. They can discuss the details of Doctor Light's unknown sick crimes later but for now, they need to arrest Mammoth.

Mammoth shakes his head. "Doesn't matter anyway." He calmly walks over to the Titans, clearly not feeling threatened to the group that use to beat him and his team on a weekly basis.

Speedy frowns while wondering why he is so calm. "What do you mean by that?"

"Because you're already beaten."

Before the Titans can respond, all four scream in pain as lightning courses throughout their bodies. They collapse to the floor with a numbing pain filling their persons. Hot Spot groans as he reverts back to his human form and the last thing he sees before everything turns dark is something small and round shivering to sight.

"Hahaha! Take that you Titan dweebs!" exclaimed Gizmo's voice from all four of his Eyebots that turn off their cloaking. One of Gizmo's latest inventions has been his Eyebots, small and round machines that have a floating system, a cloaking device and a laser that shoots both lethal and paralyzing rounds. Gizmo is quite proud of his invention which he intends to use to spy on the Akatsuki's enemies. The only downside is that he can't operate them in the Sage's private dimension and needs to be in the same dimension as them so he can control them. Apparently, its very difficult for his Eyebots to operate when his electrical signals are being monitored in a different dimension. That's why he is currently in a hidden location that only the members of the Akatsuki know about.

 **( Eyebot from Fallout )**

The Eyebots move away as Mammoth stomps past the unconscious Titans and to the buggy that his target is hiding behind. With one hand, he grabs the rims of the buggy and easily lifts the vehicle over his head. Looking down, he sees Doctor Light shiver as he looks up at himself with fear in his eyes.

"P-Please, d-don't d-do t-this" begged Doctor Light with his eyes full of tear.

Mammoth drops the buggy to the side and grabs his target by his throat and lifts him up in the air. Before Doctor Light can cry out, a slight twitch of Mammoth's fingers causes the Villain's neck to snap to the side, instantly killing him. With no hesitation or guilt, he drops the corpse and walks over the Titans and chuckles when he notices one of Gizmo's Eyebots zapping Kid Flash a few times.

"And this is for wrecking my workbench! And this is for trapping me in a cage! This is for making Jinx betray us! And this is because I felt like it!" laughed Gizmo while he has his Eyebot zap the speedster over and over again, causing the Titan to yell out in pain while still unconscious. The other three are shooting lasers into the road while floating around in a pattern.

Mammoth walks down a dark alley and disappears in the darkness while the Eyebots use their cloaking devices to vanish when they complete their work. Just in time too because the sound of police sirens fills the air as they leave.

When the police arrive to the scene of the crime, all they find are the unconscious bodies of four Titans, the destroyed bank, the corpse of Doctor Light and the smoking insignia of Akatsuki in the road.

 **( Gotham City )**

In one of the tallest buildings in Gotham, Black Skull is found in his office looking over a few reports about his newest shipment of weapons that are suppose to be in at the end of the day. By his side is his assistant who has the same serious expression he loves so much. By the double doors of his brightly red coloured office are four of his best bodyguards, all with their hands behind their backs and wearing expensive black suits.

He puts down the reports and opens his mouth to speak but closes it when he suddenly hears gunfire. "What the hell is going on!" yelled Black Skull as he stands and slams his hands on top of his desk.

The double doors open and one of his bodyguards frantically runs in. "Boss, it's Harley Quinn! She's killing everyone downstairs!"

Black Mask scowls, seemingly not liking the news. _"What the hell is that psycho doing here?"_ he thought to himself. "Well? What are you still doing here? Get down there and kill her! She's just one woman!" he ordered the guard who looks between the doors and Black Mask, seemingly thinking if he should follow those orders.

Before Black Mask can pull out a gun to shoot his clearly disobediant employee, one of the four guards by the doors notices something outside the window. "Lookout!" he yelled, pulling out his pistol alongside the other guards who pull out their own respective pistols. Black Mask turns around and widens his eyes when he sees Red Hood hanging just outside his window from a black wire.

Red Hood narrows his eyes at Black Mask and kicks himself off the window while pulling out one of his pistols with his free hand. Black Mask and his assistant think fast and runs away from the desk and behind the five bodyguards who all have their weapons aimed on an incoming Red Hood. "What are you idiots waiting for!? Shoot him!" yelled Black Mask while pointing to the vigilante.

Red Hood fires his bullets into the window which weakens the glass enough for him to smash through it. He let's go of the wire and rolls behind Black Mask's desk just in time to avoid the gunfire. With a click, he empties his empty clip and loads a full one into his pistol. With his gun fully loaded, he positions himself so that his feet are facing the desk. He pulls back his legs and with a good show of inhuman strength, kicks the hardwood desk which flips in the air before it rolls across the floor.

Black Mask and his assistant just barely jump through the doorway to avoid getting squashed by the runaway desk. The four bodyguards on the other hand are now staining the office rug with their blood after getting crushed by the desk. The only positive thing is that the desk is blocking the doorway so Red Hood can't get through it.

"Sir, we need to head to the rooftops. I'll call in a helicopter to pick us up" spoke his assistant who takes out her phone and makes the call.

"Don't have to tell me twice" said Black Mask who gets up and runs towards the stairway along with his assistant. By the time he gets to the end of the hall, he hears something off behind him and turns around in time to dodge his desk that flies over his head and crashes through a wall.

"Where do you think you're going?" called a clearly smug Red Hood who is twirling one of his blades from the other end of the hall while walking down it in an almost painfully slow rate.

"Fucking prick" muttered Black Mask as he takes out the pistol in his jacket and empties his clip into Red Hood. Red Hood doesn't even try to dodge the incoming shower of lead and instead, swipes his knife through the air several timed to cut through and deflect the bullets with surprising accuracy. "You got to be fucking kidding me!" remarked Black Mask before he runs up the stairs. _"I thought only Batman has those kind of skills!?"_

After an exhausting few minutes of running up several flights of stairs, he finally makes it to the rooftop where a helicopter and his assistant are waiting for him. "Good to see you're safe sir."

"Yea, I'm fine. Let's just get hell out a here" replied Black Mask while fixing his tie.

His assistant nods and tips her glasses. "Of course sir. If you'll ju-" The assistant cuts off when a knife find sits way into the back of her skull. Rolling her eyes, the assistant collapses face first onto the rooftop, dead. The murderer walks around the helicopter to show that it was Red Hood. Without even glancing, the vigilante raises his gun and shoots several bullets into the pilot.

"Remember me?" taunted Red Hood.

Black Mask staggers back before he turns and runs back to the door that leads to the stairway. He opens the door to only meet the end of a sledgehammer which strikes him across the face and throws him back a few feet.

Groaning, Black Mask grabs his face to ease the pain and opens his eyes just to see Red Hood looking down at him by his head while a happy Harley Quinn twirls the sledgehammer which he guesses to be the offending weapon that hit him.

"Fine, fine, I give. You got me" grunted Black Mask as he pushes himself to a sitting position and glares up at Harley who grins down at him. Now that he thinks of it, he wonders why Harley Quinn and Red Hood if all people are actually working together and why they want him. "So, what do you want from me? Money? Guns? A recommendation?"

Black Mask let's out a small gasp when he feels the familiar feeling of the end of a barrel touching the back of his head. "Wai-BANG!" The crime lord collapses to his side with a fresh bullet hole going through the back of his skull to the front of it.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time" said Red Hood with a grin behind his mask as he holsters his gun back under his jacket.

Harley smirks as she rests her new hammer, courtesy of 'Boss', on her shoulder. "Oh~, what did he do to you?"

"That's none of your business."

"Phooe. You're no fun" pouted Harley who pouts even more when Red Hood presses the top of his Akatsuki ring and vanishes from sight and from the dimension. "Jerk" she muttered before copying the motion and vanishing.

 **( New York City )**

"Hahahahaha! Come and catch me bug boy!" laughed the Green Goblin as he flies through the air on his glider. Following behind him is the rookie sensation hero, known as Spider Man who swings through the city of the Big Apple to try and stop the Villain from killing anymore innocents. Just five minutes ago, the Green Goblin invited himself, via the window, to a corporate meeting between the High Management of Oscorp Industries and killed everyone in it. With a single throw of one of his explosives, all that was left in the meeting room is a pile of skeletons.

"Why can't I go one day where I don't have to chase after a bad guy" groaned Peter Parker as he does an eccentric flip in the air while shooting a few balls of web at the Green Goblin who skillyfully dodges them and laughs out the same insane laugh from before.

"Try again!" The Green Goblin who is also publically known as Norman Osborn pulls out an explosive and throws it back at Spider Man who widens his eyes behind his mask upon recognizing the offending item.

Acting fast, he shoots a web to the top of a nearby building and pulls himself up hard to dodge the orb. Not done, he uses his free hand to shoot another web at the falling bomb and pulls hard on it which throws the item above himself and high into the air. Just in time as it explodes in a wide green explosion that could have caused major damage to the public if it got anyway close. Peter sighs in content from the wall he is sticking himself on before looking over at the Green Goblin who is stationary in the air.

"Nice one but can you handle all of these?" exclaimed the Green Goblin while throwing two handfuls of familiar orbs but these ones have wing expansions that grow at the sides. The airborne weapons all lock on Spider Man who notices the very sharp blades that makes up the wings. Shooting a web at the skyscraper across the way, he swings himself away in time to avoid the very deadly weapons but they all swurve and fly towards Spider Man.

Green Goblin smirks from atop his Golblin Glider as he watches the annoying hero avoid his weapons. He reaches into his pouch to pull out a few more of them but notices movement to his right. He flies to the right in time to avoid a very large Venus fly trap from eating him whole. Keeping a distance from the plant that he notices is somehow growing from a greenhouse on one of the top of the many skyscrapers, he notices the offender who is standing beside the overgrown plant with her arms folded.

"Poison Ivy!, what do in owe this great pleasure?" smirked the Green Goblin while spreading his arms out wide like as if he and Poison Ivy go way back.

Said Meta-Human stares at the Villainous billionaire with half-lidded eyes. "Just shut up and die." The Venus fly trap sprouts out roots from its body which all rapidly stretch to Green Goblin who swirves around the offending plant and flies towards Poison Ivy with one of his bombs in his hand and a cold smirk.

"How about you die instead?" chuckled the Green Goblin who throws his explosive at the Meta-Human. Said Meta-Human commands a root to wrap around the bomb before it can get anywhere near herself. She doesn't even flinch when it explodes which lightens up the area in a green glow and warms Poison Ivy from the heat of the explosion.

Green Goblin flies higher into the air in time to avoid the Venus fly trap from eating him but the plant continues to chase after him, growing even more large at every second. Getting annoyed quickly, he takes out three explosives and chucks them down the open mouth of the plant and laughs to himself when it explodes into chunks of plant tissue that rain down the street, harmlessly.

Poison Ivy growls silently to the sight of one of her 'babies' dying right in front of her while the offender just laughs away to himself. Her patience only gets worse when the Spider Man fellow drops down by her side and shoots a web to her hands, sticking them together.

"Green Goblin is one thing but an overgrown weed? No thank you" quipped Peter as he pulls onto his webbing to get Poison Ivy off her feet. To his surprise, he soon finds out that his strength isn't enough to bring Poison Ivy to his side. In fact, a powerful tug from his webbing causes him to lose his own balance, feeling too surprised to actually correct himself.

"Let go of me!" With strength that someone of Poison Ivy's size and stature shouldn't have, she pulls her webbed hands over her head and brings them down beside her, slamming Spider Man into the rooftop and making a nice set of deep crack and a small crater into the concrete.

"Gonna feel that in the morning" groaned Spider Man. His Spider Sense tingles all of a sudden and with renewed energy, he jumps away in time to avoid a large root from grabbing him. Said root continues its assault which forces Spider Man to avoid it which gives Poison Ivy plenty of time to deal with the Green Goblin who is now charging at her.

"Got you!" Two large spikes expands from the front of the glider which the Villain intends to use to pierce Poison Ivy. However, the Meta-Human smirks before reaching a hand into the pile of leaves that makes up her clothing. Pulling her hand back, she throws it upwards toward the Green Goblin who notices something small getting into his line of sight. A second later, he recognizes the small dots to be seeds.

 _"What the?"_

All of a sudden, the seeds explodes in a cluster of roots that quickly wraps themselves around the Green Goblin before he can do anything about them. With his quick downwards descent and the sudden lack of balance, the he falls off his glider and rolls painfully onto the rooftop as his flying vehicle crashes a few feet away from Poison Ivy who makes her way over to the downed Green Goblin who struggles to get the plants off of him.

"Stop your struggling. There's no getting away when my babies get their roots on you" told Poison Ivy with a small smirk.

Behind his mask, Norman Osborn smirks because unseen behind the roots, he just barely presses a button on his wrist console which remotely controls his glider. Said glider floats up and turns to face the back of Poison Ivy before it sails through the air with its spikes glinting from the sunlight.

Peter jumps past the root that has been following him for the last five minutes and cries out to Poison Ivy when he sees that Norman's glider is going to stab her from behind.

Unknown to both the Villain and Hero, Poison Ivy already noticed the incoming glider the first moment it sprung back to life. Slightly turning to face the incoming glider, she reaches her hand out and to the surprise of both Spider Man and Goblin Glider, she catches it by the front spike. The glider struggles to push back the Meta-Human who's feet are starting to crack the ground underneath her, yet she doesn't even flinch. Having enough, she raises her free hand and slams it down on the glider which sticks into the floor in front of herself.

"Cute" she smirked to Norman Osborn's clearly shocked face from behind his mask. "Now that's settled, time to come with me. There's someone who is looking forward to meet you." She walks while swinging her hips and taps the top of Norman's mask with a flirtatious smirk.

Spider Man gets out of his surprise and runs towards Poison Ivy to stop her. "Stop!"

Poison Ivy turns to the rookie hero and smirks while releasing her pheromones. Peter goes to grab her arm but suddenly stops himself and feels himself lose control over his own body. "Maybe next time, little spider" smirked Poison Ivy before she taps the top of her Akatsuki ring and disappears with Green Goblin. All Peter can do is stand on the rooftop in a daze for an hour until the pheromones wear off.

 **xXx**

Norman grunts as he topples to the floor with a spurning stomach and a headache. With his arms tied behind his back, he barely gets himself to his knees. He tries to stand up but Poison Ivy grasps his shoulder from behind and with pushes him down with surprising strength.

"Ah, Norman Osborn. One of the many blights that is slowly killing the planet."

Norman turns from glaring at Poison Ivy and looks up to see an unknown man standing a few feet in front of himself. What catches him off guard is the fact that he never once noticed the man get in front of him. "You know my name but I don't know yours."

Naruto lightly smiles and with a flick of a finger, Norman's mask disconnects itself from his armour and falls to his knees, exposing the face of the insane billionaire. "Usually I would but you're not going to live long enough for it to have any meaning to you." Before Norman can open his mouth to reply, Naruto's Rinne-Sharingan blaze to life and he places one hand on Norman's head. The Villain tenses up with wide eyes and gasps as Naruto uses his Human Path to absorb his soul. With a tug, Naruto pulls out a ghostly version of Norman Osborn and absorbs it through his fingertips. Closing his eyes, he not only absorbs the soul of Norman Osborn but also the memories of the Villain.

Poison Ivy feels a chill crawl up her spine as she stands back and watches her leader absorb a literal soul right in front of her. As a former Villain, she has seen many type of individuals with all sorts of powers that range from super strength, flight and even to control electricity. But to absorb souls is something entirely off the scale of amazing powers. She can guess that not even Superman can defend himself once Sage gets his hands on him.

Her eyes flicker to Norman's body which collapses to its side with lifeless eyes staring past Sage's feet. "Want me to get rid of that for you?" she asked. Some of her plants have an acidic juice that she can use to break down a corpse. With the training and power boost from the Sage, it only got stronger along with the rest of her skills. A year ago, she wouldn't even dream about catching something as fast and dangerous as the Green Goblin's Glider, yet she did.

Sage shakes his head at her. "No need. I have a plan for that" he told her while the King of Hell erupts from violet flames beside the Sage and swallows the corpses of Norman Osborn before vanishing.

Poison Ivy can only guess how many more abilities her boss is hiding from everyone else. "I'll never get use to that."

Naruto leans down and picks up the mask of the Green Goblin and looks at it for a moment before he walks towards the small river. "Never will I."

 **( Metropolis )**

"Come on big boy, don't be shy. I won't hurt ya" muttered Deadshot as he aims his sniper rifle from atop of the skyscraper owned by Wayne Enterprises. His target, Kingpin, is currently in his armoured limousine with a protection detail surrounding him. In front of his limo are two black Suvs with another pair following behind them. He can make an educated guess that his guards are all heavily armed and heavily paid to protect the biggest crime lord in the country.

It's a shame that it means nothing to Deadshot.

Even with his target being a few miles away from his current location, all Deadshot feels is confidence in himself. After calculating the wind speed and direction, distance and angle from hid target, he corrects his weapon and pulls the trigger.

Kingpin smirks as he takes a sip of his expensive champagne while his party girls rub themselves off of himself. His good mood can't fade since the reason he is so out of his usual comfort some which is New York is because he got a message from Lex Luthor himself about a business proposition that he can't hope to ignore. Seeing as Lex Luthor is one of the wealthiest and smartest people on the planet, whatever proposition he makes will most likely involve finance and advance technology that he can use to finally take care of that pain in his ass, Spider Man.

Unknown to Kingpin, his message from Lex Luthor has been wired by a certain mercenary who is gleefully watching his limousine a few miles away from atop a building.

Deadshot's bullet flies through the air in a blur and after a few seconds, makes contact with its target a few miles off. The bullet easily drills through the armour in the limousine and cuts straight through the forehead of Kingpin who jerks his head back with a shocked expression on his face before the light in his eyes fades away. The party girls all scream in horror as the limousine driver stops with the Suvs and Kingpins bodyguards all run around the vehicle in a panic.

Deadshot chuckles before his sniper rifle disappears in a poof of smoke. The right elbow of his jacket glows bright lines for a brief second before fading away. _"I should seriously consider thanking Sage for the bullets"_ thought Deadshot with a smirk underneath his mask. Not even his armour piercing bullets could have any hope of cutting through Kingpin's limo. He knows because he tried before. Kingpin is always worrying over his protection detail since he is a paranoid fool.

After stretching his arms and ignoring the sirens and alarms from the distance, he presses the top of his ring and disappears. His job is done so he leaves the rest to his boss.

 **xXx**

Lex watches the city of Metropolis from his penthouse office chair with his legs folded and his hands resting on his knee. By his side are his loyal Amazon bodyguards, Mercy and Hope who stand by his side with their hands folded behind their backs.

Lex chuckles as he swirves his chair around to face his table and presses a button on his beeping answering machine. "Yes Gillian?" He doesn't need to ask to know why she's calling but he has to keep up appearances for the sake of his employees.

"Sir, your seven o'clock is here."

"Good, send him in" told Lex before he leans back into his comfortable chair. A few minutes later, the double doors to his office open and in walks the large figure of Kingpin. Lex stands and walks around his desk and shakes the large hand of the crime lord. "It's good to finally meet you, Kingpin. I've heard quite a bit of your accomplishments."

"I can say the same thing, although your accomplishments are on the more hush side of things" chuckled Kingpin who takes an offered seat in front of Lex's table.

Lex smirks as he sits back on his own seat. "True but it gets results, that I won't deny. Speaking of which, the reason why I've invited you here."

"Yes, I hope I wasn't just wasting my time coming over here. I'm a busy man" told Kingpin as he lights one of his cigars and blows the smoke, uncaring that he is in someone else's office.

Lex's eye twitches in annoyance to Kingpin's blatant disregard to respect but he keeps his patience. He needs Kingpin's contacts to achieve his goal which he hopes to put an end to Superman and the annoyances which are the Justice League. The goal to find more Meta-Humans he can hopefully employ and if not, eliminate so they can't cause any future problems for himself. If Superman can form a group of Super Heroes, then he can form his own group of Villains.

Beside him, Hope and Mercy narrow their eyes at the disrespectful crime lord but control themselves from acting out. "Yes" Lex coughed into his fist. "What I called this mee-" Lex stops himself when his answering machine beeps again. He presses the button with a light scowl, not once noticing Kingpin's eyes narrowing. "What is it Gillian? I'm in the middle of so-"

"Sir, that isn't the real Kingpin! Kingpin has been found dead in his transport vehicle a few minutes ago! You're meeting with an imposter!"

Lex widens his eyes and looks up at 'Kingpin' who stands up and flicks away his cigar as Mercy and Hope push their boss behind themselves. "Oh well, didn't expect the facade to last this long anyway." Mercy places a hand on Lex's desk and uses it to push herself up to swing a kick the imposter's temple. 'Kingpin' catches the kick with ease and swings the Amazon to the other bodyguard which causes them to hit the wall and dent it with their bodies. _"She can hit a lot harder than I expected"_ he thought while shaking his slightly throbbing hand.

The Amazons get back to their feet and take martial art stances that 'Kingpin' recognizes as Muay Thai and Karate. "Stand down and you won't get hurt. I'm not after you, I'm after him" told 'Kingpin' who points a large finger at Lex Luthor who has his back to the wall, waiting for the moment when he can make a run for the exit.

"If you want him, you'll have to go through our cold dead bodies" told Mercy with a glare.

 _"Where the hell is my security!?"_ wondered Lex who counts in his head how many people he's going to fire for failing at his hour of need.

'Kingpin' shakes his head in an almost pitying manner. "Very well."

The bodyguards don't wait up for him to move as Mercy jumps off the table into the air and lifts her left leg up for a dropkick while Hope ducks low and throws a punch towards 'Kingpin's' genitals. The imposter shows an impressive show of speed and agility for a man of his size. 'Kingpin' jumps to dodge Hope and jumps off her back to spin kick Mercy through the side wall. Once he lands on his feet, he spins on his heel at the same time that Hope is turning to attack. He blocks a thrown fist which is what Hope waits for so she can grab his limb and pull him towards her while jumping up with her knee sticking out to hit him in the face.

Imagine her surprise that instead of dodging, 'Kingpin' purposely headbutts her knee and instead of his skull getting crushed like a grapefruit, its her knee that is hurt. She cries out in pain while grabbing her injured knee but 'Kingpin's' fist hits her in the stomach which causes her to slightly bend over and cough up saliva before 'Kingpin' swings his large fist down at the back of her head. Hope's head bounces off the floor and then meets 'Kingpin's' boot which hits her through Lex's table and into the wall, causing Lex to jump out of the way unless he wants to get crushed. She slides down the wall and slouches to the side in unconsciousness.

After knocking out Hope, 'Kingpin' raises an arm to block a roundhouse kick from Mercy. The impact causes a miniature shock wave to shake the office and to shatter the window glass but neither pays any attention to it.

Lex uses this as an opportunity to run towards the exit so he can hopefully make it to his underground lab and get his Kryptonite suit so he can fight. That plan fails as the imposter lifts up a chair with his leg and kicks it towards him which hits the side of his chest, causing Lex to fall and grab the injury in pain.

"You're going to pay for that" growled Mercy while clenching her fists.

'Kingpin' smirks in an arrogant way that annoys the Amazon. "For a bodyguard, you're not doing a good job."

Just as he expects from her, the Amazon loses her patience and attacks him wildly. She throws a barrage of punches that 'Kingpin' counters with a barrage of his own. Each punch causes a miniature shock wave to erupt from their fists but both continue to attack, one trying to overpower the other while the other tests the other's strength.

Mercy tries for another roundhouse kick but 'Kingpin' catches it with his left hand and before she can pull it out of his grasp, he pulls the limb over his head and brings the Amazon along for the ride. The bodyguard shouts out in pain when 'Kingpin' slams her into the floor, making cracks and a small crater underneath herself.

Mercy opens her eyes to see 'Kingpin' over herself with his fist pulled back so she crosses her arms to block some of the force. It does little when she relises how much the imposter is holding back because her defence is immediately broken from his punch which throws her through the floor and the floor of every level in the skyscraper. 'Kingpin' glances down through many holes and sees a small speck at the bottom which he guesses is Mercy.

With both annoyances taken care of, 'Kingpin' turns to Lex who limps towards the exit but is soon in the hands of the imposter who lifts the injured billionaire by the collar of his suit. "W-Who are you?" coughed Lex while he struggles to free himself from the imposter's grip. To actually see both of his bodyguards defeated is something that he is still finding hard to believe. With their Amazon origins and their skill in martial arts, they should have defeated the fake 'Kingpin' with ease. They've gone toe-to-toe with Superman for fuck's sake!

Kingpin calmly stares into Lex's eyes before his own ones shifts into the powerful Rinne-Sharingan.

"A Ghost from the past."

 **xXx**

The double doors to Lex Luthor's office burst open and a dozen armed security guards run in with guns out and ready to fire. However, they look around the room to only see that nobody is in the office, not even Lex Luthor himself.

Mercy limps into the office with her right hand holding onto her bleeding left arm and looks around but they don't see anyone in it, just the unconscious body of Hope against the wall. The only new addition to the room is the scorch mark on the wall behind Lex's desk and glares at the symbol of a cloud.

"Find them! They can't have gotten far!" she ordered to the guards who run away to scour the building of every room. Unknown to the group, there search is pointless because they have already left the dimension.

 **( Gateway City )**

A female figure in yellow cybernethic armour bangs her fists into a control console when she watches her minions fail to kill one man or whatever it is. What's worse is that it's killing all of them with ease, almost child's play.

"Kill him you fools!" yelled the professional criminal, Doctor Cyber who is currently sweating a lot underneath her cybernethic armour. Just barely half a hour ago, she has been planning the destruction of Paris in her hidden bunker in the outskirts of Gateway City when explosions erupts and shakes the facility. She has been watching the source of her disruptions from a monitor in the control room and has been growing nervous.

All of a sudden, the monitor shatters when Doctor Cyber throws a chair through it when she sees the last line of her defence fall. All that's left between herself and whatever that **thing** is, is a wide ten inch door of steel and her ten remaining followers who are currentlyaiming their automatic weapons at the doorway. With no visual on the enemy, Doctor Cyber looks over from the end of the long table to the doorway and stands up to fight.

In an agonizing few minutes which feels like days, everyone but Doctor Cyber jumps up when a flaming fist of bones punches through the centre of the steel door. Two of its flaming hands grasps the edges of the small hole and rips an even bigger hole out of it to shoe Ghost Rider in all of its unholy glory.

Not needing to be told, all of Cyber Doctor's remaining followers open fire on Ghost Rider who merely stands by the destroyed door and takes all of the bullets. One of the minions throws a grenade at the Rider who catches it. It looks at the explosive before it erupts in its hand. While the smoke clears up, the soldiers reload their weapons and aims their weapons at the smoke cloud while hoping that the monster has died.

Doctor Cyber knows better than that. She has seen footage of the Rider taking a rocket to the chest and still walk off without a scratch. She highly doubts that a grenade and a few bullet can injure it.

Just as she expected, when the smoke clears up, the Rider is still standing in the same place without a scratch on it. It lifts a bony finger and waves it around the room before keeping it on Doctor Cyber.

 **"Guilty."**

Like as if the declaration is an invitation, the rest of the minions fire again but this time, Ghost Rider replies kindly. It grasps the chain that is around its chest and pulls it off and gives it a swing. The chain immediately erupts in flames, causing the Rider to laugh almost maniacally. With a single swing of the chain, the two closest minions are cut in half from their waists. Another swing causes the chain to grow in length and tie itself around the neck of another who grasps the chain and tries to take it off. As the chain burns into the screaming man's neck, Rider pulls the chain which throws the minion into the air towards itself. When the minion gets close enough, Rider swings its fist to the side and hits the minion into the wall with enough force to make a crater in the steel wall.

Rider steps forward towards another minion while ignoring all the bullets hitting of itself. Grabbing the end of the minion's rifle, it back slaps its enemy with enough force to snap his neck. As the corpse collapses by its feet, Rider uses one hand to aim the rifle and shoots at the rest of the minions. Bullets rain across the room with many of them ending up inside the bodies of Doctor Cyber's minions.

Rider drops its smoking gun and steps forward to Doctor Cyber who has yet to move from her chair. One of her minions still breathes by the steps that reaches up to the table but ends up dead when Ghost Rider steps on his head and pops it like a balloon. The real uneasy part about the scene is how it does it without even looking or noticing. Rider stops just by the end of the table.

"I've heard rumors about you and your exploits. They say your kill count reaches up to the thousands." She chuckles dryly, accepting the fact that she's going to die.

 **"Your hands are stained with the blood of the innocent. Thousands of pure souls have been lost because of your actions"** spoke Ghost Rider.

"Oh? And your hands aren't covered in blood?"

 **"I end the lives of the corrupt and evil. Lives who are all worth nothing."**

The Villain laughs at its response. "And what about their innocent families? Mothers and fathers who suffer for the lost of their child which you killed? What of their children who have to live the rest of their lives without a father? Do their lives not matter?"

Ghost Rider snarls at the Villain, growing in temper which she can tell from the way its flames get brighter and larger. " **The deaths of the evil will prevent the corruption of future generations. If sacrifices have to be made for them then so be it."**

The Villain's shoulders sag as she tilts her head. "No matter what I say, there's no difference. I die and you walk out." Taking this as a sign, Rider walks over to the Villain with the intention to kill. "However..." The Villain grabs the edge of the table with enough grip to crack it and lifts it up. She swings it like a baseball bat and hits the Rider into panels and consoles which sparks and drowns it in electricity. "If I'm going to die, I'm going to die fighting!" Cyber lifts the table over head head and throws it into Rider who looks up in time to see the table collide with itself. The force of the table and Cyber's strength is enough to cause the damaged machinery to explode.

Rider is throws across the room in even more flames and hits a wall upside down and lands on its skull. A few seconds later, it stands back up and stares up at Cyber cracks its neck.

 **"Let's dance."**

 **xXx**

Outside the flaming facility, two members of the Justice League have just arrived on the scene, only to find dozens of bodies and a few piles of ash scattering the grounds.

"What on earth!" gasped Supergirl as she floats to the ground as she looks around the bodies who all look like to have died in great pain. "Who could have done such a thing."

"I think I know" said Princess Diana or known more as Wonder Woman. "The foul Demon that Batman has been hunting for the previous year." Her assumptions are proven correct because two heavy metal doors in the flaming facility open up to show Ghost Rider walking out with a helmet in its hand. A helmet that Wonder Woman recognises and causes her eyes to widen. "Doctor Cyber" she gasped as she stares at the bloody helmet of one of her rivals.

Rider stops when Supergirl lands in front of itself and glares at it with enough heat to make any man flinch. Rider merely rolls its skull.

 **"Innocent."**

"I can't say the same thing about you" growled the cousin of Superman.

Before Rider can speak, a golden lasso wraps around itself and ties its arms to its side. Following the kenghth of the golden lasso, Rider sees Wonder Woman floating in the air and glaring at itself with heat similar to that of Supergirl.

 **"Innocent."**

"Foul Demon! So many lives gone and for what goal!? Tell me!" Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth glows as it takes effect and forces Rider to speak the truth.

 **"They spill innocent blood for their goals of terrorism that spread fear and evil across the world. I killed them to end the cycle of hatred and cure the corruption that fill the hearts of the weak and feeble."**

"Killing isn't right and it doesn't matter who it is! Who gave you the right to choose who can die or not?" spoke Supergirl while still glaring at the Rider.

 **"The lost souls of the innocent."**

Flames erupt from Ghost Rider and travels up the lasso and burns Wonder Woman's hand which causes the hero to cry out in pain and is forced to let go of her lasso. Ghost Rider untangles itself from the lasso before picking up a corpse by its feet. It throws the corpse at the injured Wonder Woman who doesn't see in time to dodge the body that hits her with enough force to knock her out of the air. Rider notices the other hero move but Supergirl moves faster than itself and punches it across the jaw before Rider can react.

Supergirl takes a step back when Ghost Rider twists its face around and glares at her. The fact that her punch has unhinged its jaw makes the sight pretty gruesome in her opinion. Ghost Rider back hands the Kryptonian into a nearby armoured vehicle which collapses on itself. Groaning, she pushes herself up and sees that the Rider has disappeared. She uses her X-ray vision to be sure nut she can't see him anywhere. The only thing left of it are a pair of scorched boot prints where it was once standing when it back handed her.

"Clark isn't going to like this."

Page 22 of 22


	4. Akatsuki

**Enjoy.**

 **xXx**

 **( Unknown Location )**

Naruto walks up behind Gizmo whos fingers blur across the keyboard while the dozen of screens lighting up of shadows of the room fill with numbers of computer codes. Standing behind them are the rest of the Akatsuki, although it's hard to see them in the shadows. Ghost Rider is an exception since it is literally on fire and lighting up the area around itself, showing a bored Mammoth behind it.

"Are you nearly finished?" Naruto asked the young genius.

Gizmo smirks and his typing speed seems to get even faster while the numbers on the screens almost blur down the screen from his typing speed. "Just give me a minute. Hacking into every satellite around the planet is harder than it fucking looks. Speaking of which, are you sure you don't want me to do something with the Watch Tower? In five minutes, I can probably disengage their artificial gravity system" asked Gizmo, looking over his shoulder to Sage and hoping to get the okay to do it. He could also hack the security cameras and upload the footage of floating and panicking Heroes on the internet. He can already see the millions of views he'll get on his channel.

Unfortunately, Sage shakes his head in a negative to Gizmo's wishes. "No need for that. We just want to show the world we exist, not to show boat the Heroes. Besides, if I wanted to do something to the Justice League, I'd do it personally." Gizmo looks back at Sage with disbelief in his eyes. Even that's putting a limit to what the leader can do.

"So who's going to be the proud face of Akatsuki?" asked Poison Ivy in a sarcastic manner. She doesn't really care for being a speaker for the group. Yes, she swore loyalty to the Akatsuki and isn't going to back down on the agreement she made with Sage. Not when he's training her to be a better champion for mother nature herself. There's also the fact that she can get favours off the Sage instead of money. Favours that mean a lot more to her than piles of gold. Unknowingly, she rubs her stomach in the exact same spot where a black mark of the sun now rests. The same mark in which the Sage blessed her with and now allows any and all chance of actually giving birth to her own child.

Even in the shadows, Sage can almost feel Harley Quinn jumping up and down with her arm raised. "Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick Me! I want to do it!"

Deadshot scoffs from within the shadows. "I don't think the public will like the idea of the Joker's former sidekick being the face of Akatsuki." Harley blows a raspberry at Deadshot's direction in response to his snarky remark.

"Red Hood, your up" spoke Sage in finality as he turns to the direction where he knows the former Boy Wonder is hiding in. Harley moans in disappointment while Deadshot and Mammoth chuckle.

Jason controls himself from looking startled for being chosen and points at himself, feeling unsure if he heard Sage right. "Really, you want me?" For some reason, the thought of being chosen as the face of Akatsuki is quite empowering. With Sage hiding and supporting them in the shadows, they need someone to act as leader, at least in the publics eye. He just didn't think it would be him of all people. Yes, he leads a few gangs in Gotham to control crime but to be known to the public to lead people like Ghost Rider, Deadshot and Poison Ivy is something different entirely.

Naruto nods with a small upwards twitch of his lips and walks beside Red Hood. "Of course. You are a symbol of people who aren't afraid to kill criminals if necessary. That makes you the perfect candidate to be the face of Akatsuki. You showing them that you have a team at your beck and call will not only get the attention of the public but will also frighten the evil in the country to their roots." Naruto pats the vigilante's shoulder and walks deeper into the shadows as Jason's eyes stare into his back.

"And when we're done here, we move to the rest of the world."

 **( Watch Tower )**

Batman isn't one to get frustrated easily, having trained for years to hide his emotions to make it easier to spread fear to the Villains who do nothing but cause death and destruction all over the world. However, he's almost infinite amount of patience is starting to slowly chip away at him. The reason for it being the latest incidents between Villains in several cities and them ending with a kill count. What has him feeling annoyed is how he can't find anything about them which may help him find out the reason for the attack or who's the **real** perpetrator for the attacks.

Typing rapidly on the keyboard of the Watch Tower's Super Computer, several pages of information and pictures are brought up onto the screen. The pages show pictures of the several Villains who all but disappeared for an entire year. They are also the same Villains who attacked and killed others, such as Black Mask, Doctor Cyber, Doctor Light and Kingpin while also being the reason for the disappearance of other powerful men, like Lex Luthor and Norman Osborn.

Batman narrows his eyes behind his cowl as he rereads the information of the Villains for the tenth time while trying to decipher something from the taken pictures. He has already shown his findings to the founders of the Justice League an hour ago but he is personally trying to figure out the end game of these Villains.

Harley Quinn's picture was taken in one of the hallways of Black Mask's building. In it, she is winking towards the direction of the security camera while walking down the hall with a bloody sledgehammer hanging off her shoulder. Littering behind her are the many bodies of Black Mask's men who are staining the walls and rug with their blood and brain matter, courtesy of the insane jester. Batman already has enough information on her skills and unpredictability to know how to handle her if the time comes to face her. A time Batman hopes to happen soon as she may be the perfect lead to finding the Joker's whereabouts. After all, she can always be found hanging off the Joker's hip and the fact that she is wearing the same symbol he found at the Joker's hideout means that he could be a member as well.

Deadshot's picture is of him climbing the fire escape of a building near the time of Kingpin's death. Something that he doesn't believe to be a mere coincidence. What has Batman confused about the picture is how it doesn't show any of Deadshot's usual weaponry on him which may have taken the shot which killed Kingpin. He can't imagine anyone else who may have the skill of taking such a complicated shot from that long distance but it does require a specialized sniper which can't be hidden on Deadshot's person.

Clicking a tab, a second picture appears beside the file which shows the bullet that was found in Kingpin's head. To the normal person, it looks like a common .22 LR bullet. In close inspection, Batman found black lines decorating the bullet. From the patterns, it looks like a form of Magic symbols which may explain how the bullet pierced through the armour platings of Kingpin's armoured limousine from such a long distance. He needs to show the bullet to Constantine when he finds him from whatever he does when he disappears. Maybe even Doctor Fate the next time he comes back from his current mission.

Underneath Deadshot's picture is one of Poison Ivy, taken by a spectator's phone from the window of one of the buildings near the scene of the fight. It shows Poison Ivy smirking at the dazed new Hero, Spider Man from a rooftop in New York.

Batman remembers a few months ago when Spider Man applied to join the Justice League. He also remembers denying his acceptance, finding the young hero to be too rash and inexperienced to be taken seriously. Ignoring the thoughts of the rookie, Batman frowns in thought as he reads a few witness reports of the fight between Poison Ivy and Green Goblin. A lot of them saying that the Meta-Human showed skills and strength which she did not possess a year ago. A few even state how she caught the Green Goblin's Glider with her bare hand and barely moved an inch, something that Bruce finds unlikely since one of the many abilities she has isn't super strength. However, he reluctantly believes it to be true since there are a too many witnesses admitting to the same thing for it to be a lie. It just adds to the many more mysteries that's plaguing his mind.

After reading up about Poison Ivy's file, Bruce reads one of the more interesting ones, belonging to a low ranking Villain who goes by the name, Mammoth. There are two contrasting pictures of him with one showing Mammoth from a year ago, eating away from an ice cream van he is lifting over his head and another which was taken from an ATM. It shows Mammoth lifting Doctor Light with one hand and the other with his fist held back, ready to punch. He would like to have another picture of the scene but the apparent shock wave of the punch destroyed the ATM camera and every other in the vicinity.

Bruce wonders if Mammoth is using a drug to enhance his already impressive strength, maybe something like Venom. It would explain a lot about the increase in muscle mass, speed and his durability. Beside Mammoth's file is a report given to him by the Titans which explained their interaction with him. Green Arrow's apprentice, Speedy even mentioned the change of behaviour in the Meta-Human who went from an idiotic brute to a cold/almost professional killer in the time of his disappearance. Bruce makes a note to visit Jump City and have a word with Mammoth's former ally, Jinx when he has the free time. He reads up the more common knowledge of Mammoth's past with some of it being that he was stationed in Jump City, has a B-Rank Villain of a sister named Shimmer who is hiding off the grid somewhere in Metropolis and he was once a member of the organisation H.I.V.E and clashed with the Titans a lot which are being led by his third student, Tim at the moment.

The next file causes Bruce to frown sadly since it's of his second student and partner, Jason Todd who has taken up the mask of the Joker's former persona, Red Hood. Unlike the Joker, Jason made the name Red Hood into a fearful symbol in Gotham, just like his Batman persona. Bruce would be proud if he isn't so disappointed in how his once deceased partner chose to kill criminals instead of doing the right thing and subduing them for justice to handle their punishments. Even if they don't officially have the consent of any world government, not even the Justice League have any right to choose if a man or woman should live or die. The picture is of Red Hood smashing through the window of Black Mask's office. Being the effortlessly safe crime lord that he was, Black Mask never had any cameras in his office to prevent any evidence of his misconduct to be used on him in a court system so Batman has no way of seeing what occurred inside. All he found were corpses, a destroyed office, a desk in a wall and eventually, the corpse of Black Mask and his assistant and helicopter pilot on the rooftop.

Another file shows a picture of the mysterious Rider who Diana and Supergirl had the fortune to meet, although briefly. The picture is of the Rider facing off against the two heroines while holding a bloody mask of the deceased Doctor Cyber. Deceased in terms of the blood on the helmet since the only part that they could find of the former Villain/Terrorist was a burnt hand. At least he got some new information on the Rider with it being that it has pyrokinetic abilities and super strength.

There are two more files along with them with one belonging to one, Gizmo who Bruce believes to be involved with the attacks since he can usually be found with Mammoth. Those machines that helped Mammoth in Jump City were said to be very advanced with the most worrying part about them being their cloaking device. With Gizmo's high intelligence, it is possible of him to have created such machines, although he wonders who's funding them since such creations can't be cheap.

The last file doesn't have a picture with it and very little information on whoever it is. Batman made the file for the person who disguised themselves as Kingpin and was most likely the same person who kidnapped Lex Luthor in the first place. Batman narrows his eyes as he watches the feed from one of the security cameras in Lex's office. Not only are they a master of disguise but they show impressive skills in fighting and strength to actually defeat two women who Batman believes to have some sort of relations with the Amazons, if they aren't ones themselves.

"Still looking over the files?" asked Superman as he walks beside Batman and pats his shoulder.

Batman shrugs off the hand from his shoulder and concentrates on the files, trying to find some sort of clue on who is leading this group. "They're all connected. They wear the same rings and logo as each other. After every attack, they have left their marking to mock us. I'm just trying to figure out who is leading them" told Batman.

Superman looks at the computer screen and back at Batman with a look of interest on his face. "You think there's a hidden face in the shadows? It could always just be one of them."

Batman shakes his head to show he doesn't believe that. "Highly unlikely. While they are all dangerous in their own right, none of them show any capacity to lead a team functionally" remarked Batman.

"Not even Jason?" asked Superman.

"Not even Jason" Batman stated. "Jason never showed too much maturity, even before his 'death'. Now, I fear his sanity is hanging on a thread and I can't even do anything about it." Batman drops his head slightly showing the Man of Steel that he does feel guilty and responsible for his former Boy Wonder who has taken to the life of killing.

Superman pats Batman on his back to show his support for the Caped Crusader. "I'm sure it isn't your fault. There's just some people who don't want to be changed" said Superman, his face turning somber as he remembers his past. "Back on topic, why couldn't it be any of the others of the group in red and black clouds?" he asked, hopin got get off the topic of Batman's greatest mistake.

Batman looks back at the screen, his serious persona back on. "Harley Quinn and Mammoth lack the mentality needed to lead. Gizmo and Poison Ivy have their own interests in mind and very rarely care about anything else but themselves. While Deadshot is an impressive tactician, he is more of a follower than a leader, hence why he is a mercenary for hire. That only leaves Jason and the Rider but I highly doubt it's either of them." Batman brings up a picture of Jason in his Red Hood disguise and the Rider. "I may have thought Jason everything he knows but not even he can lead a group of Meta-Humans by himself. The person leading them must be powerful enough to control them, especially Harley and Deadshot."

Superman nods his head in understanding of what Batman is trying to explain. There has only been one person who has been able to control Harley Quinn and that's the Joker. Harley's insanity makes it difficult to control as she is prone to kill her allies just as much as her enemies. It's only because of Joker's matching insanity and the fact that he made her into what she is today that he could always reel her in.

Deadshot on the other hand is a mercenary who is paid to take orders. However, he isn't one to take orders constantly, not unless he is being paid or forced by someone more powerful than him.

"What about the Rider?"

"The Rider has never shown any signs of being anything more than a flaming violent skeleton until recently when Wonder Woman and Supergirl confronted it. Besides that, it would have needed to break into Arkham Asylum without being noticed when Harley and Deadshot disappeared. Every report of it's sightings have explained of an over amount of extreme violence, no matter the situation. I doubt it has the capability of sneaking into Arkham when it could just as easily smashed its way through the walls and guards."

Superman hums in thought, wondering who could possibly lead the odd group to kill other Villains and even kidnap his rival, Lex Luthor. Just like the Joker, Lex is one of those Villains who you don't like to mess with since he has the money to kill anyone he wants and make it seem like they disappeared from thin air. With his money splashed in the right direction, Lex could have anyone he wanted erase from every file in the government. Almost a scary thing with how much power one can have with just money.

"Besides, someone clearly trained the group. Quite well in fact." Batman brings up picture he took of all the crime scenes. "Mammoth shows off more power, durability and speed than he had a year ago. All of Speedy's arrows all bounced off him without even making a scratch on him and he almost hit Kid Flash with one of his punches. A punch that is now strong enough to create shock waves. I assume that he is taking Venom but it may be possible that he was actually trained under the guidance of someone."

Batman eyes the pictures he took of Black Mask's office. "The four men I found in Black Mask's office were all crushed to death. From the bloodstains on Black Mask's desk, I'm assuming that was the cause of their deaths however, I found the desk through a wall down the hallway. I want to know who could throw the desk hard enough to go through a wall and I can make a good guess that it was Jason."

"You think Jason has the strength to actually do that?" asked Superman while looking the picture of the desk through the solid wall. While he can do something like that with just his pinkie finger, a human will find it very difficult to break down a solid wall with their fists.

"A year ago, no. Now..."

The solemn silence is all Superman needs to know. "I'm guessing the same can be said with Poison Ivy."

Batman nods his head. "Poison Ivy has no enhanced physical benefits from her powers. No, something or someone has been improving their skills and I want to know why. This ghost in the shadows may also have something to do with Joker's disappearance." Batman brings up the picture of the crime scene in the Joker's warehouse he took a year ago. The picture shows the exact same symbol of the cloud which the recently formed group have left behind. "This incident occurred in the recent timeline of Harley and Deadshot's disappearance from Arkham. As well as when everyone else disappeared off the grid. Whoever this is, they have been spending the last year honing the skills of their recruits for a fight."

"A fight? With us?"

Batman shakes his head. "No, I don't think so."

Before they can speak some more, Flash blurs into the room, looking nervous. "Guys, I think you need to see this."

 **xXx**

In the main hall of the Watch tower, where the majority of the Justice League hang out with each other, everyone is currently watching the surrounding screens with interest. Flash blurs back into the room with Superman and Batman following close by.

"What's going on?" asked Superman as he looks around the widespread room and notices that everyone is watching a screen. His eyes widen in recognition when he recognizes the red and black cloud on the screens as the symbol that is of the new group. "Isn't that..."

"Yes" muttered Batman, narrowing his eyes at the many screens before looking towards Black Canary who is frantically typing at a console. "What's the situation?"

"Bad. We've been hacked and I can't find out who's doing it" replied Black Canary as she types a few more times before slamming her fists against the panel in frustration when she gets locked out of the system. What really pisses her off is how a small pixel character appears in the middle of the black screen and chuckles with a toothy grin. Batman looks over her shoulder and narrows his eyes when he notices that the pixel character looks an awful lot like Gizmo.

Static covers the screens which gets Batman and Black Canary to turn their attention to them. When the static disappears and the connection is complete, Batman is caught off guard when the masked face of his former Boy Wonder appears on every screen. He doesn't show his surprise but inwardly, he is trying to figure out what's happening.

 _ **"We... are the Akatsuki!"**_

 **( Metropolis - Daily Planet )**

 _"Akatsuki?"_ wondered Lois Lane as she and the rest of her co-workers stare up at the TV screen which shows the face of one of the more well known faces of Gotham. Not someone with Joker and Bane notoriety but still someone who isn't above killing. Yes, all his murders have been criminals in all sorts of degrees but they're killings nonetheless.

"Akatsuki? That sounds an awful like Chinese" said Lana Long with her arms folded underneath her breasts.

Lois's boss, Perry White scoffs at the notion. "Wrong, try Japanese. I'm a bit rusty but I'm nearly positive that it means Dawn."

 _ **"All of you are probably wondering who we are and what are our goals?**_ Even with a mask on, everyone can see Red Hood's smirk form underneath the fabric. _**"We have one goal in mind and that's the betterment of the planet!"**_

 **( Gotham City - Icebourg Lounge )**

"Betterment of the planet? What the hell is he spouting out?" exclaimed Penguin as he grabs a raw fish from the pile in front of him and throws it at his large flatscreen TV.

The former criminal was calmly enjoying his dinner and watching a documentary on penguins when all of a sudden, some unknown sap changed his channel to the Red Hood character spouting out crap about some Akatsuki group he couldn't give a damn about. He clicks on his remote control and almost snarls when he finds that it isn't working and in his frustration, he throws the remote at the television and watches in satisfaction as it shatters and sparks.

The surrounding bodyguards stoically ignore their laughing boss as they are use to such behaviour from him. One of the bodyguards to Penguin's right stands at attention when his boss snaps his finger towards his direction. "You! Get me a new television and hook it up for me. Be quick about it!" ordered Penguin before he takes a large bite out of one of his raw fishes.

The bodyguard nods and runs off the large iceberg that Penguin is having his dinner on and makes his way to the back room. While running, he runs by the bar where two bodyguards are listening to the radio which is also under the control of Gizmo.

 _ **"The planet is literally dying and nobody is doing anything to save it. Famine, droughts, genocides, nuclear weapons, and murder is only samples of what is slowly killing off the planet and ourselves."**_

 **( Star City - Hidden Hideout )**

"Well, doesn't he sound cool~" said Captain Cold/Leonard Snart from the crate he's sitting on beside an old beaten couch. Directly in front of the small TV is Captain Cold's partner and best friend, Heat Wave or rather, Mick Rory who takes a deep chug of his beer from the couch.

"So what? Not like I care for the planet. I'd rather see it all burn" said Mick before chugging the rest of his beer. Finishing it, he throws the empty both behind him, not caring for where it lands.

Leonard gets up from the crate and walks behind the couch and leans against it, directly behind his partner. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not one for mother nature and harmony but the guy is making sense, I'll give him that" remarked Snart. Mick and himself have spilled plenty of blood as well since it's sorta required to escape the police.

Mick scoffs before he reaches into the cooler by his feet and pulls out a can of beer and opening it with a hiss, the pyromaniac tilts his head back and drinks its contents. Taking a breath, Mick cracks his neck to fix up his joints. "How am I suppose to take them seriously if they're just some group of hippies? What are they gonna do? Hug me to death?" he choked out a laugh before he takes another drink.

Leonard Snart opens his mouth to reply but a glance to the television causes his voice to get caught in his throat. Coughing into his hand, he taps his partner on the shoulder and points a finger to the TV. "You might have jinxed us, Mick."

While in mid-drinking, Mick points his attention to the TV screen, only to spit out the alcoholic liquid in his mouth when he sees what's on it. "Holy shit!"

 **( Watch Tower - Main Hall )**

Gasps and mutters fills the hall as Red Hood moves out of the way from the screen to show something horribly incredible that catches everyone, including Batman and Superman off guard. The Cape Crusader and Man of Steel are still trying to process what they are seeing.

As of on the screen, the Joker's unmoving corpse swings from side-to-side while it hangs from the chains wrapped around his wrists. Red Hood appears beside the swinging corpse and wraps an arm around the Joker's shoulders.

 _ **"Some of you watching might recognize this clown as the Joker. He was one of the most vile and disgusting piece of garbage on the planet and I know that hundreds if not thousands of people can attest to that. He killed men, women and even children for one sole reason. A laugh."**_ Red Hood's eyes narrows in hatred to the Joker as he shoves the body away and takes a few steps forward to the camera which backs up, allowing plenty of view of Red Hood and Joker's swinging corpse which adds to effect.

 _ **"The Joker destroyed families and any chance of happiness for them so he can have a laugh. Blood of innocents cover his hands and all he did was laugh. As a victim of the Joker myself, I understand the pain of everyone who has suffered under the Clown Prince.**_ Red Hood raises his arms above his head in a sign of victory. _ **"Only now, we can finally rejoice! No more shall we suffer at the hands of the Joker! No more shall we cower under the Clown Prince! For he is dead!"**_ Red Hood drops his arms and stares into the camera, making it almost seem like he is personally staring at everyone watching. _**"And the Akatsuki are the ones responsible for his death."**_

 _"Jason...'what have you done?"_ thought Bruce Wayne while he watches the screen in horror while his former protégé spouts out madness from the screens.

 _ **"That's not all folks, we have one more guest for you."**_

Red Hood walks away from the Joker's corpse while the camera follows him into the darkness. A few seconds later, a spotlight shines down into the darkness and shows Red Hood beside a kneeling individual that everyone in the Watch Tower recognizes.

"Lex!?" exclaimed Superman as he watches Lex who is kneeling beside Red Hood with his hands tied behind his back and a gag in his mouth.

 _ **"If some of you don't recognize him, let me explain. This bald chap..."**_ Red Hood pats Lex on top of his head for emphasis, causing Lex's glare to intensify almost tenfold. The vigilante ignores the glare and continues.

 _ **"Just so happens to be Lex Luthor, billionaire and CEO of Lexcorp. He is also the man who has caused the deaths of thousands and the worst part about it all is that nobody knows anything about it. For as you see, he is a very wealthy man who has no need to dirty his hands. Hence, he pays others to do the dirty work for him. Lex Luthor has used bribery, blackmail and even assassinations to get away with anything. Even the destruction of his Lexcorp building in Gateway City last year. An incident in which killed over two hundred of his employees and forty bystanders. All for the sake of killing Superman."**_

Superman remembers that incident well. It was when they got an anonymous call from an employee in Lexcorp which mentioned Luthor killing one of his other employees. Having known of Lex Luthor's power with money, both he and Wonder Woman flew to Luthor's office in his building, only to find a man strapped to his chair with a ticking clock on the desk. Within a few seconds of arriving, the building exploded in a glory of flames which threw the Heroes into the next building with a few burns but no serious harm. The same couldn't be said to everyone else in the company building as they all died from either the explosion or the collapse of the building. Superman wanted to badly take Lex Luthor to jail but at the time, they didn't have any evidence that he was the cause of the explosion as he was at a business meeting in New York at the time.

Red Hood walks around a struggling Lex Luthor and pats him on the head. He pulls out a pistol from his holster and pulls back on the barrel to hear his gun click in an almost ominous way. _ **"So then, I don't think anyone is going to complain if this stain is suddenly erased."**_

To the horror of everyone watching, the former Robin places the barrel of his gun to the back of Luthor's head with the clear intention to end the life of the billionaire. Said billionaire realizes how close to death he really is and struggles even more against his restraints but it's all for nothing. He can't even stand up to run since Poison Ivy has his legs tied down to the floor with roots.

Pausing for dramatic effect, Red Hood smirks underneath his mask and pulls the trigger.

Superman jumps forward in a weak attempt to stop the death of his rival but it's all for nothing.

 **( Metropolis )**

"NO!" yelled Mercy and Hope from inside their expensive loft. The two Amazons can only stare at the TV in shock, anger and horror as their employer crumpled to the floor with a bullet-size hole in his head.

For the last week, they have been using all of Lexcorp's resources to find the CEO of the company but everything ended with no positive results. They even got the help of the Penguin since the nightclub owner has a lot of contacts all over Gotham and a few within the other cities. Not even his spy network was enough to find any clues on the whereabouts of their boss. Then all of a sudden, their TV turns over to an unknown channel which they can't change from.

It goes on spouting out about some new group called the Akatsuki which they couldn't care less about. It didn't involve them so they dismissed them, right until they showed the dead body of Joker. Their surprise only turned into shock when it showed their missing boss tied up with Red Hood who is known as a high functioning sociopath who will kill anyone who he deems a criminal. It shouldn't have been a surprise to them when they see him pull out a gun and shoot their boss but it still angers the pair greatly.

Within seconds, Mercy pulls out her phone and rings up a contact. She immediately roars into the phone when her call gets connected. "Listen here and listen good, I don't care how much it costs or who does the job but I want Red Hood and whoever is apart of that Akatsuki group of his dead within the month. You here me? DEAD!"

 **( Unknown Location )**

"*giggle* Looks like he's finally getting started." The unknown figure smiles as she watches events on earth play out in front of her from a small dimensional portal she made for herself. She giggles again when she sees Lex die by the hand of Red Hood or rather, Jason Todd. "You never do cease to entertain me, do you Naruto?"

In the middle of a large field of black roses, one of the roses crumbles and dies beside the figure but she ignores it since she has 'helpers' to deal with it. One 'helper' rises from the dead flower and disperses into black smoke to complete its task. "Wonder if he knows how much trouble he's actually in. *giggle*, wouldn't want to be him right now" she giggled to herself, watching the stoic face of her favourite human and enjoys the thought of how much attention he is actually getting from the lower but powerful beings in his dimension and he doesn't even know it.

From what her brother mentioned, a few Gods have been looking into the source of power that has shown up exactly 378 days in human terms. Of course, it doesn't take much for her to find the source of said power which just so happens to be her most favourite human who disappeared from her sight thousands of years ago. Just barely over a year back and he's already causing worldwide trouble for himself and everyone around him. She can tell that she's going to have a good time watching him, especially knowing the fact that thousands of years ago, Naruto did something that even her big brother couldn't fathom. Something which should have been impossible.

Although, she is also quite curious over how powerful he is after missing for so long. _"I wonder if any of my siblings will notice if I went down for a quick visit?"_

Closing her eyes for a moment to think, the unknown individual doesn't notice Naruto looking around before he sets his eyes on the location where she has her portal stationed.

 **xXx**

Blue eyes scan their surroundings when their owner feels something odd. Even without the Rinne-Sharingan, Naruto can easily see through the darkness and what's putting him off is that he can't see anyone but his Akatsuki members. Not even their emotions. To someone else, they would play it off as nothing but not Naruto. When you encounter powerful individuals who can accomplish almost god-like feats, you tend to get paranoid with who may be watching him to find a moment to strike. There is also the fact that he has power that makes his previous opponents look like ants in comparison.

Blue eyes vanish and change into the Rinne-Sharingan. Almost immediately, Naruto finds the source of his uneasiness which is a small cut in the dimension in the corner of the dark warehouse he and his Akatsuki are residing in. In a blur, a kunai drops into his hand from his sleeve and he throws the weapon into the portal before it closes. Eying the area for a moment, he shifts his eyes back to normal and watches on as Red Hood introduces Akatsuki to the world with nobody the wiser.

Except for Ghost Rider who eyes Naruto for a few brief seconds.

 **xXx**

"Uh oh." The hidden figure realizes that the person she's stalking is looking at her portal. She closes the connection but not fast enough to stop the kunai which flies at her in inhuman speeds. Easily enough, she catches the weapon which would have pierced her eye and looks at the weapon in her hand. "*giggle*, too slow Naruto. You'll have to improve if you wa-" Her voice gets caught when she notices a flaming paper tag that is attached to the end of the kunai. "Isn't that a-BOOM!"

Before she can touch the paper tag, it explodes in a flurry of flames that causes the black roses to bend from the force of the explosion. A few moments later, the explosion dies down and the flames start to shrink and die in a speed that shouldn't be possible. Within second after the explosion, the flames all die out, leaving the perfectly harmless victim and field of black flowers.

The unknown figure looks down at her hand where the kunai once was. After a few moments of awkward silence, the hidden figure giggles to herself before her giggles turn into a laugh that could make the coldest man smile. Before the effects of her laughter eventually causes her to lose control of her powers and kills him. "Hahahahahaha! That's why you're my favourite! Hahahahahahaha!"

 **( Xavier's Mansion )**

"Xavier, you don't think that's..." asked the hairy blue figure which is Professor Hank McCoy who goes by the Mutant name, Beast. In the large living room of the mansion, Professor Xavier, Beast, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Colossus and Logan are the only X-Men in the mansion who are not on a mission and are the only ones there to watch the birth of Akatsuki. The Mutant children in the mansion are outside playing as Xavier cancelled all classes when the media was taken over.

Xavier sighs and rubs his brow. "There's no definite chance that it's him but there is a high probability. It wouldn't take much for someone of his power to stay hidden. This Akatsuki group will make a good cover story for him if he really is the one leading them."

Logan cracks his neck. "You mean the guy who saved you lot eleven years ago? Must be strong to best Apocalypse's ass" said Logan, having personally seen the worldwide detestation which Magneto caused, only because Apocalypse powered him up.

"I wouldn't say save. More like helped us out a bit" said Cyclops, folding his arms stubbornly.

Jean turns to her boyfriend and frowns. "If it wasn't for him, we'd be all dead. I'm just hoping to get the chance to thank him. We owe him so much."

Scott turns away from his girlfriend and scowls in distaste for the man who killed the Mutant God eleven years ago. Yes, he might have saved them but it isn't like they needed his help. They could have handled him eventually. What's worse is that Jean has a sort of fan girl tendency for the mysterious stranger ever since he saved them. He can remember all the times where she would tell the younger Mutants in the mansion about him and gush about hoe hpe defeated Apocalypse by himself. Like as if they didn't have anything to do with it!

"Should we do something professor?" asked Colossus, his large and heavy frame straining the couch chair he's sitting on.

Xavier turns his wheelchair to face the occupants in the room. "For now, we do nothing. This isn't our fight until they attack us directly. For now, let's continue with our classes and training. Logan, I believe you have a class to teach in five minutes."

Logan grunts and pushes himself off the wall before leaving to his designated classroom. Cyclops and Jean get up from the couch and leave, one heading to the library to think and the other to the garage to work on his car. Colossus pushes himself up and heads down to the underground training room where Negasonic Teenage Warhead is waiting for him to train. Beast nods his head to Professor Xavier and leaves for the lab.

After everyone leaves the room, Xavier slumps in his wheelchair, feeling a lost of his energy. He has been going for the last two years without nightmares but the thought of that... 'Monster' showing up to light again isn't something he wants to handle anytime soon. Or any time for what matters.

Even after years of studying, he can't find anything on whatever that **thing** might have been. The closest bit of information he could find was an old dusty scroll he found in eastern Japan which mentioned nine powerful Demons that could destroy mountains and cause tsunamis with a flick of one of their powerful tails. It's probably just some lost folklore from years ago but it's still the closest he has found on something that might resemble the creature.

Blinking for a brief second, he finds himself back in that underground sewer with that gold cage holding back whatever is hiding behind it. Whatever it is, its massive red eye with rings and tomoes are staring down at him like as if he is a mere bug in its presence and to be honest, he can't help but agree in the truth to the matter. He's an Omega level Mutant who can read and control any mind on the planet with the help of Cerebro but it means nothing to the creature that can put him into such distress by just looking at him.

 _"If he really is responsible for this Akatsuki group, neither us or the Justice League can hope to stop them"_ thought Xavier. Getting himself together, he rolls himself out of the room and heads towards his office. He has some papers to grade which he hopes to take his mind off of current events.

 **xXx**

Making sure that she's in an empty hallway, Jean Grey collapses against the wall and leans against it while trying her best to push back the entity from her mind.

 **"You can't ignore me forever."**

The Omega level Mutant winces and pushes back against the entity that she can feel is slowly getting closer to victory. _"Leave me alone! I don't need you or your power!"_ With the throbbing headache from fighting back an entity of limitless power, Jean isn't sure if she actually heard right when she hears the entity scoff at her.

 **"Don't get full of yourself, human. You weren't my first option for a host but 'he' isn't the best option at the moment so I guess you'll have to do."**

Jean scowls and winces at the same time. _"Why the hell not! Go to him and leave me alone!"_ she yelled in her mind. While she is sympathetic to the other person who actually caught the attention of the powerful entity in her head, she can't help but wish for the days where she doesn't have to spend hours everyday to defend her mind from being taken over. It's also hard to not speak about what's happening to her to the professor or the rest of the X-Men but the entity made it clear that if she vocally or mentally spoke to anyone about it, they wouldn't last long to spread the word.

 **"Sadly, that's not an option. Unlike you pesky humans, 'he' isn't weak minded. Even I'll find some trouble taking over his being without endangering myself. You should be honoured being my second option and for the chance of attaining my unlimited power!"**

With one last powerful mental push, Jean inwardly screams in pain when she pushes back the entity from her mind. Collapsing to her knees, Jean breathes in deeply in exhaustion. The sad fact she knows is that it'll just be back sometime tomorrow, if not in a few hours.

 _"Who on earth can actually be a threat to that..._ _ **thing!**_ "

Jean herself is an Omega level Mutant with one of the most powerful minds in the world, on par with Professor Xavier's but it takes all of her energy just to fight off the entity. Yet everyday, she can feel it getting stronger and stronger, pressing against her defenses and she isn't sure how long she can keep it up. Whoever can actually scare off the entity from taking them over must be nothing but a monster.

 **( Washington, D.C - White House )**

Sitting by the end of the long table in the White House is the President of United States, Matthew Ellis and his entire Cabinet who are sitting by the table and watching the large screen at the end of the room which is showing the footage of the Akatsuki. "What is the report on tracking back the signal?"

"We're working on it sir. Whoever is hacking our satellites is good but it won't be long until we find the trace of the hacker's location" spoke the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Good. I want these criminals in bars by the end of the day. No exceptions!" exclaimed Matthew while slamming his fist onto the tabletop.

"Sir, shall we call the aid for the Justice League?" asked the Ministry of Defence.

The President scoffs. "And show the world that we support them? No. The Justice League are not welcome in US soil and the quicker they realize that, the better." A few of the Cabinet members look at each other with nervous expressions that show they don't exactly agree with their country's leader. "Fury, what's the current progress with the Avenger Initiation?" he asked to the person standing to the side by the wall.

Nick Fury takes a few steps forward and smirks lightly. "At the moment, not so bad. The Cap and Hawkeye are a go ahead with the plan. I also have several agents, including Romanoff searching for potential candidates for the Avengers. Some including Tony Stark and Bruce Banner."

"Excuse me for asking but you want to bring in an irresponsible wildcard like Stark and a radioactive monster of muscle? Are you out of your mind!?" yelled the President.

Nick Fury doesn't even flinch to the President's outrage cry and waits until his done. "May I speak, Mr. President?" After Matthew's brief nod, Fury continues while he slowly walks around the meeting table with his hands behind his back. "I'm sure you're all worried over the current situation of the world today and this Akatsuki group aren't helping. There's also the so-called Justice League who believe themselves above the law of every country on the planet but no matter what we do, we can't get them to stop or at least keep them in line. The reason? We lack the public support to do so. As long as the Justice League continue to 'save the day', we can't do anything against them unless you want to face public backslash."

Matthew winces at the thought of such a thing occurring, especially with the elections next year. That's why he has ordered the Avenger's group to be formed. To not only even the playing field against the world threats and the out of control Justice League but to also make them the new face of justice. If he can sway public opinion from the Justice League to his Avengers, he can get the Justice League under control to the UN without any serious public disasters. That's a main reason why Captain America is to be the face and leader of the Avengers since he is not only a War Hero but the definition of democracy.

"We aren't strong enough to fight the Flash, or the Green Lantern and certainly not Superman. That's why we need wildcards like Tony Stark and monsters like the Hulk in order to even the playing field. Without them, we stand no chance against the Justice League and the other threats waiting for us."

Matthew Leans back into his chair and thinks. "I'm not sure about this. I've seen the reports about the Hulk and none of them are too pleasant. It tore apart some of our tanks with its bare hands for crying out loud."

"Then how about a test sir?"

This catches the President's and the rest of the Cabinet's interest. "A proposal?"

Nick nods with a smirk. "Yes sir. I propose that we send out who we have on a little errand with back up from S.H.I.E.L.D, a test per say. If they fail, it shows that we aren't nearly ready to face off against our enemies and I'll revise the whole team. If we succeed however, I get full control over who to recruit to the Avengers. How does that sound?"

Matthew holds back the urge to bite his lips and looks back to the screen where Red Hood continues his speech.

 _ **"We have accomplished what the Justice League fails to do every day. Dozens of times, the Justice League brought the Joker into 'custody' to face his crimes in prison and to give him medical help to rehabilitate him. What of the families who have lost a family member and will never get to see their smiling faces again? Do they not deserve an opinion? Don't their voices matter?"**_ Red Hood narrows his eyes into the camera.

 _ **"The Justice League may ignore your voices but the Akatsuki won't. Villains who kill the innocent shall not escape unscathed from their crimes. The justice system continuously fails to carry out needed sentencing so we shall do it for them and neither the weak government or Justice League will stop us."**_

Matthew glares and turns back to a patient Nick Fury. "Very well. I agree with your proposition but remember Fury, I expect results."

Nick's smirk gets slightly wider and he nods before he turns to the door and walks towards it, his trench coat billowing behind him. "Of course, Mr. President."

 **( Watch Tower )**

Red Hood's face fills the entire view of the camera, showing nothing but his mask and strong passionate eyes. _**"For we are the Akatsuki. The Judge, Jury and Executioners of the New World."**_

The screens all erupt into static, leaving the world in an awkward silence. After a few moments of silence, murmurs erupt in the room.

"Who the hell do they think they are?"

"They actually killed the Joker! And Lex Luthor of all people!"

"If they want a fight, they'll get one!"

Wonder Woman walks over to Superman and Batman and from the looks of her face, she looks slightly bothered by what she saw and heard. "Did they just declare war on us?" From her point of view, it sounded awfully like a declaration of war. It isn't like they showed a high opinion of the League which disturbs Wonder Woman. She's apart of the Justice League to make a difference in the world but the Red Hood's little speech hit her deep.

Batman scowls and shakes his head. "No. It was a warning. A warning for us to stay out of their way." Opening his communicater, he presses it to his ear and starts talking to the person on the other line.

"A warning we're going to completely ignore" told Superman, strongly. "They admitted to the world that they've killed and that they're willing to kill again. We can't let that stand, no matter the cost."

Batman says a thanks and places his communicater back into his belt. "We got a hit. Barbara was searching for the source of the signal since it started and found the source. Let's go."

 **( Gotham City )**

In the outskirts of Gotham City, Batman climbs through the rooftop window of one of the many abandoned warehouses that line up the outskirts of the city. Superman and Wonder Woman calmly opens the entrance door and floats through, acting as the bait in case there is trap waiting for them.

"See anything?" Batman asked Superman who uses his X-Ray Vision to look through the walls and crates in the warehouse. "Not yet. It doesn't look like anyone was h-wait a minute. I see something." Flying past several crates, Superman floats to the ground where there is a computer set up with several screens connected to each other. Beside the set up is a camera that he guesses was used to record everything. "I think we found where they filmed the show."

"And where they killed Luthor" said Wonder Woman as she eyes the puddle of blood nearby. "There's no bodies either. Scoundrels must have taken them with them for who knows what."

From the rafters, Batman grumbles to the lost of Luthor and Joker's bodies so he can make sure they're the real deal. He stands up and goes to jump to the floor to check the computers but ducks when an arrow almost hits his skull. "It's a trap!" he yelled but in an almost sick sense of humour, the computers in front of Superman and Wonder Woman all turn on to show the familiar pixel of a grinning Gizmo before they release sparks and explode. Both Heroes are thrown to the other side of the warehouse and lands into a pile of crates that break upon impact.

Batman throws a batarang to the direction of where the arrow came from but uses his grappler to swing away when three more arrows pierce the steel beam he was sitting beside. Batman grabs a second grappler and shoots it at the direction of his ambusher and shoots himself at the direction. Seeing his prey, he releases his grapple to land on the same overhead walkway as his assailant.

"Oh no you don't" exclaimed said assailant who pulls back another arrow from his bow and fires it at Batman who charges and rolls underneath it. Rolling to his knees, Batman looks up and raises his fist to throw a punch, only to stop when he notices that there is an arrow tip just a few centimeters away from his face. "Ah, ah, ah~, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Batman frowns while already thinking about a strategy on how to get the upper hand on his opponent. "Who are you?"

"Names Hawkeye but friends call me.. well, Hawkeye" answered the master archer with a grin. He looks down below to the ground floor without turning his head away from the mysterious Dark Knight and smirks. "Looks like back up has arrived."

Batman throws a punch at Hawkeye's stomach which connects, causing the archer to cough in pain but recovers fast enough to jump back in time to avoid a kick to the same spot. Batman jumps to close the distance but it doesn't seem to matter for Hawkeye who starts firing arrow after arrow at Batman who is forced to jump off the walkway in order to avoid getting pelted with arrows. Landing into a crouch, he rolls to cover as three more arrows trail behind him but stick into the floor instead. Leaning behind an aisle of crates, the Dark Knight pulls out a batarang and raises it to throw it but an arrow hits the weapon out of his hand, causing him to lean closer back into cover.

 _"He's a skilled archer. Maybe as good as Green Arrow. It's just a good thing he doesn't ha-"_ Batman gets caught out of his thoughts when an arrow lands beside the aisle of crates he's hiding behind. This arrow is different from the common ones Hawkeye shot at him before since this one has a metallic cylinder near the tip and is rapidly blinking a red light. Batman dives away as the arrow explodes and destroys what cover he had. _"Specialty arrows."_ he finished his thoughts.

Hawkeye closes an eye and pulls back an arrow which he has aimed right a Batman's forehead. _"Got ya."_ Releasing his bow, his arrow scales through the air towards his target but it doesn't hit its target. _"Of course it wasn't that easy."_ Hawkeye mentally grumbles to himself while he looks down at the floating Superman who blocked his arrow with his chest. His arrow didn't even put a scratch against the Man of Steel.

"Enough of this. Come quietly and no harm shall come to you" told Superman with a glare to a nervous looking Hawkeye.

"Umm, Cap! How about some help over here!?"

Superman's eyes turn to the right in time to see an incoming shield and grabs the offending weapon with ease. What he hadn't expected was for the thrower to follow his shield and to jump up to Superman's floating level by kicking off of a pile of crates and dropkicking the edge of the shield into Superman's face. The force of the dropkick pushes the shield through Superman's fingertips and hits the end of it against the Man of Steel's forehead. The Hero flies backwards before righting himself in the air just before he can hit a support beam but grabs his forehead to ease the throbbing.

"Sorry, am I late?"

Superman glares down at the man who snuck up on him but before he attacks, he finds himself caught off guard again when he realizes who it is. "Captain America" he gasped out in surprise. Having lived on Earth for years, the Kryptonian has of course heard enough about the legend who saved two hundred American soldiers from Nazi captivity during World War II and the world from an atomic apocalypse. However, he was said to have died after crashing a plane full of nukes into freezing cold waters but yet, here he is in his memorable uniform.

Even Batman blinks twice to make sure he isn't seeing things. _"Impossible. He should be dead! In the very least, an old man!"_ Noticing movement by the edge of his sight, Batman grabs his bulletproof cape and covers himself with it to block several bullets.

"By the order of the United nations, stand down now" stoically ordered Romanoff, also known as Black Widow while aiming her duel pistols at the Dark Knight. Batman's eyes narrow underneath his mask whole his hand slowly reaches down to his belt. Romanoff notices the movement and raises her guns slightly. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I'm not sure if you noticed but you're surrounded."

To prove her point, red dots from the S.H.I.E.L.D soldiers weapons litter Batman from head to toe, as well as Superman and Wonder Woman. Around two dozen armoured soldiers walk out of the shadows of the warehouse with their weapons trained on the Justice League.

Hawkeye notices Superman tense up. "By the way, they're loaded up with Kryptonite bullets. Gifts from the ever so generous United Nations." Superman startles in midair at the thought of the soldiers packing bullets of Kryptonite. He even uses his X-Ray Vision to make sure that the archer is speaking the truth and lo and behold, he sees the glowing green light of Kryptonite that are shaped as bullets. Bullets that can easily tear him to shreds.

Wonder Woman lands to the floor and raises her arms to placate to the soldiers. "Rest yourselves. We mean no harm. We are just searching for the Akatsuki."

"Funny, so are we. Only difference is that we have the backing of eves government in the world" spoke a new voice from the direction of the entrance. The members of the Justice League turn and see a bald African-American man in a black trench coat. The man's most noticeable feature is the eyepatch on his left eye and the amused grin on his face.

"Who are you?" Batman all but demanded. Even now, he is trying to figure out a way to get out of their current predicament. With so many guns on them, not even he and Diana will be able to dodge or block all of their bullets and with said bullets being made of Kryptonite, not even the Man of Steel will be able to get out unscathed. There's also the three unknowns of Hawkeye, Captain America and the redhead who has the look of a killer in her eyes.

"And there it is! The charming personality which makes Batman. I'd say I'm your biggest fan but mama once told me to never lie."

"You didn't answer my question."

"No, I did not" replied Nick Fury with a nod as he walks beside Romanoff who has yet to take her guns away from Batman. "All you have to know is that I represent this fine land in which we call America and heck, maybe the rest of the world. Just came on down to find these new big fish, only to instead find some of our biggest problems, number one to three to be precise" he said, eying Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman in that order. "So we thought that we'd come on by and say hello."

"Hello~" sang Hawkeye from overhead and he even waves.

"I don't understand. We're all on the same side here" said Superman.

"Wrong. You're on your own side. You Heroes and your little super club spring up from the root works and proclaim yourselves as the protectors and saviours of the world." Nick turns to looks at all his S.H.I.E.L.D soldiers who have yet to take their sights off the Heroes. "But I have a question." He then turns back to face he Heroes. "Who asked you?"

"Excuse me?" asked Wonder Woman in surprise.

"Who asked you to do our jobs? In what way are you all above the law? Did the President give you guys the jurisdiction to operate in America because I just spoke with him and he didn't mention any of the sorts so if you guys want to clue me in here?" Nick raises a single brow as he gazes at the three Heroes. "No? Didn't think so."

"The people need our help because the governments neglect to do their jobs" told Batman with edge in his tone.

Instead of getting angry over the insult, Nick let's out a few chuckles that is enough to show that he finds it funny. "You know, you sound a lot like that Red Hood character from TV. I can see you thought him well." Nick's lone eye bears into Batman and he doesn't miss the slight tense of muscles. "That's right. I know that Red Hood was once Robin, the second Robin in fact. We also know that he died by the hand of the Joker and was resurrected in a Lazarus Pitt." Nick chuckles even more. "I guess they're even now."

"Who are you?" This time, Batman doesn't demand it but cautiously ask the man who is clearly high up in the government chain and has information that only a few know about. Unless they got it from the Joker, they should only know about Jason being Red Hood from a founding member of the Justice League.

"Someone who doesn't exist but enough about me. It's just a short visit anyway. By order of the President of the United States of America and the United Nations, the Justice League is hereby made redundant and will be shut down. Refusal to do so will declare yourselves an enemy of the country, planet and more importantly, an enemy of the Avengers."

Page 19 of 19


	5. Results

**AN: Yes, I do not have any experience or knowledge of guns. This will mean that there might be gun and bullet mistakes.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **xXx**

"Well lady and gents, what's your decision? Surrender peacefully or make a big deal out of nothing?" asked a calm Nick Fury who has his hands behind his back. "It's your choice. I just hope you pick the right one."

Batman glares at Fury who he believes to be too relaxed for his own good. He narrows his eyes as he scans Fury and notices how his muscles and facial expression lack any sort of tenseness. Which means he is under no sort of stress and is either cocky or confident that he has the situation under control.

Superman stays afloat in the air and keeps his eyes on the soldiers who are packing Kryptonite bullets. Bullets that will be able to actually kill him.

Wonder Woman nervously looks between the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives and Nick Fury. She is nervous because she is at a crossroad as she wants to listen to the government authority but she also wants to remain loyal to the Justice League.

"Well? What's your answer?"

"This." Batman throws a handful of small flashbangs that forces the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Fury and the Avengers to block their eyes. When the light of the flashbangs dies down, they see that the heroes have vanished.

"Finally. My stomach has been killing me ever since the basterd hit me" groaned Hawkeye who rubs the same place where Batman hit him in the stomach. "I think he busted one of my ribs."

Black Widow ignores him and turns to face her superior. "Orders?" she asked Nick Fury who doesn't look any way displeased from the disappearance of the Justice League members. In fact, he looks quite happy with a big smile on his face.

"Let's head back. We got what we were after" said Nick who spins on his heel and walks out of the warehouse with his trenchcoat flourishing behind him. Black Widow nods and follows the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., along with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, a groaning Hawkeye and a sympathetic Captain America who pats Hawkeye on the back to comfort him, if only slightly.

 **( Brazil - Amazon Rainforest )**

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" spoke Poison Ivy as she rubs one of the many lush flora in the Amazon Rainforest. She pulls back her hand when something warm and powerful fills the plant and she looks over her shoulder to see the one responsible.

"They are. It's just a shame that there aren't as many people who appreciate the beauty of nature" replied Naruto who is sitting in a patch of grass and basking in Nature Chakra. When in the city, it usually takes him ten minutes to gather up Nature Chakra because of the lack of trees and nature but in the largest rainforest, it takes him seconds. After collecting Nature Chakra, he releases it into the ground and allows it to spread into the forestry. One pulse of Nature Chakra and the scenery changes immediately. The grass almost seems to glow in health, any dying trees in a ten mile radius is now brimming with life and any seeds in the soil are now blooming with full grown flowers.

Nature Chakra also has the tendency to attract wild animals which is why Naruto is currently surrounded by rabbits, foxes, deers, tapirs and even a jaguar who are all lying around or on top of him so they can bask in the warmth of his Nature Chakra.

Ivy finds the scene strangely funny since the leader of a criminal killing group is now being used as a cuddle toy for animals. She admits that other than Harley, Sage is the only other person in the Akatsuki she actually enjoys spending time with because they both share a deep love for mother nature and want to protect her from harm. She's not too fond of everyone else in the Akatsuki as Gizmo is a nonstop cursing geek, Mammoth is too simple minded, Deadshot is too trigger happy for her liking, Red Hood is a smartass and she doesn't want to go anywhere near Ghost Rider. Their first personal meeting ended with the flaming skeleton trying to kill her until Naruto got it to calm down. Still, it glares at her whenever it can get a chance.

With Sage, they have a kinship for the need to protect nature. That is also the same reason why they are currently in the biggest rainforest in the world. A rainforest which is quickly dying because of all the companies tearing down trees and clearing out football fields worth of land every day for its natural resources. They've decided that it's time for the public to know that they can no longer abuse mother nature anymore. Not if they want to face the wrath of her protectors.

"Are you ready?" asked Sage as he stands up and shakes off the wild animals who get scared off from the sudden movement and run back into the forest.

Ivy smirks and walks past the forestry with a sway to her hips. "I've been ready for this for years."

Naruto smiles in amusement and follows close behind her. A few minutes of walking, the pair steps out of the edge of the forestry where they see nothing but a wide wasteland of dry soil and fifty construction workers who are busy cutting down trees and collecting them onto the back of trailers. Naruto looks to his left at Poison Ivy who looks like she's on the verge of going on a killing spree. "Remember, let nature flow through you. Don't fight her and she won't fight you."

"Right" nodded Ivy who cools down her anger at the workers who are cutting down trees in front of her and even not caring that they are harming mother nature. She closes her eyes and breathes in deeply, allowing the energy of mother nature to fill her being and provide her with strength. Ignoring the warm tingling sensation, she opens her glowing green eyes and smirks. She raises her arms and as she does so, massive roots explode out from the floor in the wasteland. The size of the roots are incredible as they make the tallest trees in the rainforest which are over fifty meters tall look like tulips in comparison. The tallest root is actually tall enough to pierce the clouds overhead.

 **"Fear the wrath of the Green!"**

The sight of the roots popping out of the floor gives the loggers enough of a fright to run away from their posts and from the moving roots which are uplifting the floor from underneath their feet. A few roots slither their way to any machinery which is used to cut down their brethren. They wrap around them and easily crush the machinery like as if they are made of plastic. With Ivy's command, the roots throw the machinery towards the direction of the fleeing loggers. She has made sure to miss them but it still does its intended job of scaring them away even quicker than before. She would have loved to flatten the ones who dare harm the Green but she can't hurt the supposed innocents anymore. Doesn't mean she'll try to stop them from dying by a heart attack.

Looking around the destruction, Naruto nods his head and feels a hint of pride fill him at seeing the amount of control Poison Ivy has over nature or what she rather calls, the Green. For the past year, he has been training her to absorb a diluted portion of Nature Chakra and with good results. She can't absorb the full force of Nature Chakra as she has no Chakra Coils in her body to hold that much. It'll only cause her to turn to stone if she attempts to absorb the full brunt of Nature, something he has warned her about in case she attempts it without his permission. However, the diluted Nature Chakra is enough to amplify Poison Ivy's power and control over plants and trees tenfold.

Naruto winces and grabs his head as a flash of a memory surfaces. He can see a wide wasteland of destruction as powerful men and women fight each other. From their body structures, he can tell their genders but he can't seem to recall their faces. Nobody but a man with long brown hair, black symbols etched on his face and in red armour. From the memory flash, he can see the man control plants and beams of wood and use them in battle in an impressive show of battle prowess.

 _"Senju... Hashirama?"_ thought Naruto, remembering the name of the man before his head starts cracking in pain.

Pamela notices the Sage who seems to be in pain. "Are you alright?"

Naruto applies Chakra to sooth the pain and sighs. "Yes, nothing to worry about. Let's move on. There are plenty more logging sights and we have so little time to clear them out" told Naruto before he grasps Ivy's shoulder and teleports them away.

Being too focused on watching Ivy's progress, Naruto never notices a lone eye watching them from a nearby tree.

 **( Gotham - Docks )**

In the middle of the night, the docks are usually empty except for the occasional security guard with a flashlight and stun gun. Tonight, it hosts one of the biggest criminals known in Gotham and six of his goons who took 'care' of the security guards.

"Search the crates. I know they're here somewhere" ordered Bane to his lackeys before he walks towards one of the many large crates to do his own searching. Cracking his knuckles, he pulls back his right fist and punches a hole in the metal door. Pulling his arm back, he rips off the door and looks into the crate but frowns behind his mask when he doesn't find what he wants.

"What are we looking for boss?" asked one of Bane's lackeys who opens a crate but curses when ice and fish spill out and cover his shoes.

Bane throws the door over his shoulder and opens another crate by using the same method. "Guns. Lots and lots of guns" answered Bane, throwing away another door which just barely misses one of his lackeys who rolls to the side in order to avoid getting crushed by the door which hits and leans against another crate.

The lackey gets up and glares at the back of his boss and silently curses him. He walks off to continue the search but a large hand suddenly pops out of the shadows between two crates and drags him into the darkness. Nobody notices the disappearance as they are too involved into the search for the shipment of guns.

"Black Mask supposedly ordered a large shipment of guns before his untimely death. He can't get them so I thought that I should just help myself" chuckled the Villain who tears through another large metal crate to find nothing of use.

Two of the lackeys walks farther down the trail to search for the guns. Halfway down the docks, one of the crates to their left suddenly skids outwards and flattens them against the one to their right. Bane and his remaining three lackeys hear the noise quickly run down the trail to find the source of the commotion before they find a crate in the middle of the path with blood leaking from the side it's pressing against the other crate.

"Spread out. Find out who did this" ordered Bane to his lackeys who reluctantly spread out with their AK47s on hand. Bane remains with the crime scene to investigate and see if he can figure out who did this. He walks around it but stops and narrow his eyes when he sees the shape of a fist denting one side of the crate. _"At least I know Batman isn't involved."_ If there's one thing Batman refuses to do, it's to kill. That removes him from the list of suspects which only gets smaller after he sees the fist shape in the side of the crate that has killed his men. "And here I thought I was the strongest in Gotham" Bane said to himself.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Bane turns towards the source of the scream just in time to see several crates and two of his men flying up in the air. Without a second thought, he climbs up on top of a crate and starts hopping off of them to get across faster. After the flying crates fall, they pile up into a small tower which he climbs up to get a bird's eye view of what's happening. When he gets to the top, he looks down in surprise at what he sees.

In a wide empty circular area stands a large man who can possibly match himself in size and muscle. He is also holding one his lackeys by the head who looks puny when compared to the man's large hand. From his position, Bane can see his lackey struggle under the man's grip and frantically kick his chest. That is until the fist tightens enough to crush his skull. The man then throws the corpse away and turns to his direction, like as if he knows that he is being watched.

"Who are you?" asked Bane, narrowing his eyes as he looks down at the large man. His eyes catch the sight of something on the man's shirt on his left bicep and recognizes the red cloud symbol immediately. "You're with the Akatsuki? I've been wondering if I should take you guys seriously or not." Bane looks around the chaos of scattered crates and the corpses of his men. "And I've got to say, I'm not disappointed."

Mammoth glares up at Bane in disdain. A year ago, he wouldn't even dream about challenging someone like Bane. Not the same person who literally broke Batman! Now, he's just another speck of dust that Sage wants him to clean up.

So, without further ado, Mammoth walks over to the closest crate to himself. With one hand, he grasps the sides of the crate with his fingers digging into the metal and hurls it at Bane.

Caught off guard by the speed of the thrown crate, Bane jumps off of the pile of crates just in time to avoid the flying one that plows through the top three crates in the pile. Jumping off several more while getting closer to Mammoth, Bane front flips while at the same time, grasping the edge of the crate he jumps off of. Bringing the crate with him, he flips over Mammoth and swings the massive crate down on the Metahuman, flattening him in the process. Bane rolls to his feet and faces the crate that is now acting as a tombstone. He scoffs and walks away to continue his search for the weapons. "Newbie."

The moment Bane finishes his remark, the crate behind him suddenly flies high up into the air by a simple punch from the Metahuman underneath it. Bane turns around and to his surprise, he sees who he thought he just killed stand up without so much as a scratch on him. "Impressive. You're a lot tougher than I pegged you for" he complimented. "Do you have a name?"

Mammoth cracks his neck and glares at the Villain. "Mammoth."

Bane tries to think if he has heard of someone with that name but he can't recall. "Mammoth. A strong name for a strong man. However..." Behind his mask, Bane smirks as the tubes attached to him start to flow his personally made Venom into his bloodstream. With the drug in his body, Bane's muscles throb and shiver as they start to grow in both size and power. Mammoth holds back a gag as he sees the disgusting sight play out in front of him. By the time Bane stops the flow of Venom, his body is now twice the size as it usually is and he is now nothing more than a large mass of pure muscle and pulsing veins. "I'M STRONGER!"

With a battle cry, Bane runs at Mammoth with his large feet cracking the floor with each step he takes. By the time he reaches Mammoth, he throws a punch at the Metahuman who simply steps to the side and grabs the offending arm and Bane's hip before throwing him over his shoulder and into the pile of crates he made earlier. The crates all collapse on Bane as falls into the pile, burying him under thousands of pounds worth of metal. Mammoth grunts but before he can press the top of his Akatsuki ring, the pile of crates explode upwards to reveal a not so happy Bane who is already charging at the surprised Mammoth.

Before Mammoth can counter, Bane has already punched him in the jaw. This causes Mammoth to reel back his head before he turns and rubs his sore jaw. He glares at Bane who only eggs him on. "Come on, newbie. Show me what you got."

Growling, Mammoth throws a punch which Bane grabs with ease and punches him with his free hand. Mammoth grunts to the second punch to his jaw but he punches Bane in the stomach which causes to Villain to bend over slightly to catch a breath. Mammoth raises both his fists over his head to slam down onto Bane's back but the Villain raises both his arms to block to blow. The contact of Mammoth's fists hitting against Bane's large forearms cause a miniature shock wave and cracks the floor underneath their feet even more.

Bane pushes back and stands back to his feet to tower over the Metahuman. He swings his fist and hits Mammoth to the side of his face which also throws him away to the right and into the side of a crate which crumples under the force of Bane's punch and Mammoth's weight. Bane doesn't stop there and runs at his opponent before he jumps high in the air with the intention to slam a foot down on the Metahuman.

Mammoth growls as he stands up like as if Bane's punch did nothing and grabs the crumpled up piece of metal which use to be a crate. As Bane comes down at him, Mammoth swings the crumpled metal like as if it's a baseball bat and hits Bane away who skids away on the floor when he lands.

Bane stops himself by slamming his hands into the concrete floor which makes a small trench as he stops himself. Once doing so, he looks up at Mammoth who is slowly walking towards him with clenched fists. Clenching his own fists, Bane stands up and starts to jog at Mammoth until he changes it to running.

Mammoth picks up a little speed to start power walking until it turns into a light jog and then into a full blown run. Both large bodied men yell as they run at each other and get closer with each step that slightly shakes the ground underneath them. Once getting close enough, both reel back their right fists and throw them at each other. Their punches connect with shocking consequences.

The impact of their punches causes a more powerful shock wave to erupt which blows away the crates in the docks with most of them ending up in the sea. Spider web cracks appear and stretch out all across the docks, permanently scarring the floor.

Both men pull back their fists to throw another with Bane tilting his head to the side to just barely dodge while his connects with Mammoth's side. Mammoth ignores the pain as he and Bane throw another punch with his connecting with Bane's jaw and Bane's punch missing by a few millimeters after he slightly staggers from Mammoth's hit.

And thus begins a brawl between Titans.

 **( Chicago - National Bank )**

"I said get the fuck down!" roared a masked robber as he points his automatic assault rifle at the innocent people who so happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It happened so suddenly that nobody had the time to think before four masked men with guns barged into the bank with bags over their shoulders. The guards didn't see them coming either as one was knocked out before he could notice them and the other is now lying dead in a pool of his own blood after getting gunned down for getting brave.

Now, two of the robbers are acting as crowd control while the others are breaking into the security safe in the back of the bank. From their positions on the floor, the captives can hear the police sirens and helicopter just outside the bank but know that they can't do anything unless they want to end up dead.

Deeper in the bank, the last two bank robbers are currently drilling into the large safe with the specialized drill that is designed to cut through the lock. Within a time limit of five minutes, the drill pierces through the locking mechanism which unlocks the large safe.

Grinning underneath their masks, the pair place their weapons on the floor and grab onto the handle of the safe. They pull with all of their strength to open the large and heavy door which slowly creaks open until it's open wide enough for them to walk in and out easily. The pair pick up their rifles before heading into the safe with eager expressions on their masked faces.

What they find isn't just amazing.

It's also horrifying.

Filling the large safe is a massive amount of gold bars that almost sparkle in the eyes of the bank robbers. However, they are not there for the gold but for the millions of dollars in cash that are much easier to carry. From the entrance, they can see trays and trays of cash that almost look seductive to them when on a few gold bars. However, cash and gold aren't the only things in the safe.

Standing in the very centre of the safe is none other than Red Hood who is calmly flipping a knife in one hand while the other leans against his hip. "Hello boys. Thanks for opening the door."

Before they can comprehend the fact that the infamous Red Hood is in an airtight safe with no signs of how he got in, Red Hood catches his knife by its tip and flings it at one of the bank robbers. The knife sinks cleanly through the skin, bone and brain matter of the robber's skull, killing him instantly.

The second robber attempts to lift his rifle up but Red Hood is already in motion and within a blink of an eye, he is in front of the robber and holding his gun down to the floor. The robber opens his mouth to scream but Red Hold covers it with his free hand and brings him down by pushing down hard with his hand and kicking the robber's feet from under him with his foot. The robber falls onto his back like a sack of potatoes with a hand still muffling his screams.

Red Hood reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his taser. "Now, tell me if this hurts" he asked before plunging the tazer into the robber's neck with enough force to pierce skin. With a press of a button, the tazer activates and injects several hundred volts of electricity into the unfortunate criminal. The man screams out in pain but Red Hood's hand muffles him to prevent the other two robbers from hearing him.

After twenty seconds of _shocking_ the life out of the criminal, Red Hood turns off his taser and he places it back into his back pocket after getting off of the smoking corpse. Having been burnt to a crisp once before, the smell of cooked human flesh does little to disturb him. That won't mean that the other two robbers won't smell their cooked friend and investigate. Once they find out that their buddies are dead, they won't waste time killing hostages to get their way. That's why he needs to move fast.

Crouching low, he makes his way towards the front of the bank where the hostages are being kept. He exits the back room and ends up behind the door, where he notices three bank tellers on the floor with one robber aiming this guns at them. One of the teller's notices Red Hood who places his finger to his masked mouth and hushes him. Reluctantly, the teller keeps her mouth shut and pretends that she doesn't see him.

Red Hood waits for the right moment to strike since he needs to take down the closest bank robber without the second one at the entrance to notice him. He quickly finds his moment when the robber at the entrance starts making a fuss.

"Shut that brat up!" he roared while aiming his rifle at a mother and her crying daughter. His shouting and threatening manner only frightens the child even more and causes the child to cry even louder. "I said shut the fuck up!"

Red Hood uses this distraction to his advantage so he reaches into his jacket and pulls out his pistol. Reaching into his back pocket, he takes out a silencer and attaches it to his weapon. While still crouching low, he runs at the robber closest to him. The robber doesn't notice him until Red Hood wraps his left arm around his neck and shoots into his back three time. Red Hood leans the corpse to the floor so it doesn't fall and make noise.

The three bank tellers can only stare in surprise and a bit of fear as the same man they saw on television kill one of the robbers. He even ignores them and pays his attention to the robber in the entrance who seems to be on the verge of blowing a fuse and killing someone. The crying child and hushing mother only seem to add to his frustrations.

"Leo, Frank, are you guys done yet!?" he roared, turning around and not seeing his accomplice. "Jack? Where the fuck are you?" The robber goes to walk towards the teller booths, exactly where Red Hood is hiding behind with his gun at the ready.

It just happens he doesn't need it because a tile in the ceiling collapses overhead the criminal and hits him on top of his head. He collapses onto his knees and grabs his bleeding head but is soon knocked out when Black Canary falls out of the hole in the ceiling and lands on top of him. When she raises her head, the first person she just so happen to see is Red Hood who is poking his head out from the doorway to see what the source of the sudden noise is. She also notices the gun in his hand and narrows her eyes, dangerously at him.

Red Hood glances down at his gun and back at the not so happy Hero. "This isn't what it looks like?" he asked like as if more of a question than anything else.

"I always knew you were a bad case but to actually take hostages!" yelled Black Canary. "Do you have no shame?"

Red Hood steps out from behind the door and stands in front of the door with the gun still on hand. "Shame? Maybe if you actually got here sooner, rather than later, you would know that I was saving the day while you were twiddling your thumbs" he told her while gesturing with his gun. While he and Black Canary are talking, the hostages are now making their way out of the bank while trying not to make eye contact with either of them.

"Saving the day?" she asked, raising a brow.

Red Hood nods. "Yep. Killed the other three before you showed up. You're welcome by the way."

Black Canary gasps and looks over him. From her angle, she can see a non-moving hand in a puddle of blood. She looks back at Red Hood with eyes full of disgust and anger. "You monster! You actually killed them!"

Red Hood smirks underneath his mask. "Of course I did. I wasn't lying on what I said to you all. The Akatsuki are going to fix this dying world and you and the rest of the Justice League won't stop us."

Black Canary gets into her fighting stance and scowls. "We'll see about that."

Red Hood holsters his pistol under his jacket, clearly not intimidated by the Super Hero. "As much as I would love to kick your ass, I have other matters to attend to. Toodles." He presses the top of his Akatsuki ring and vanishes right in front of Black Canary's own eyes.

Black Canary blinks before she scowls, realizing that the vigilante has escaped and under her watch, no less. _"I need to tell Batman."_

 **( Central City )**

Jeffrey Bravo has been the valet for the Grand Central Hotel for the last two of his twenty one years of life and he will admit that it isn't such a bad job. The pay is alright and he gets to drive loads of sports cars, even if it's only for a few minutes. At the moment, he's waiting outside of the fancy five star hotel for the next car which is most likely going to be driven by another snooty rich man or woman who is arriving at the hotel for the party being hosted by the businessman, Maxwell Lord.

Holding back a yawn and doing his best to ignore the cold bite of the night, Jeffrey looks to his right when he hears an engine roar nearby, signifying another car to park for the rich who are too lazy to do so. However, instead of a fancy sports car that is worth a thousand times more than his yearly salary, it's a flaming skeleton in leather driving a flaming motorcycle and it just so happens to stop right in front of him.

The flaming skeleton gets off of the motorcycle and stares down at Jeffrey who is shaking and on the verge of crying. It doesn't bat an eyelash, if it had one, and grabs Jeffrey's hand. Jeffrey mumbles out through his fear and tears and he can't move, especially when he feels the warm, yet somehow cold boney fingers grab his hand and put something metal in it. Jeffrey, reluctantly looks down at his open palm to see a set of keys attached to a key ring which is shaped as a skull. Feeling unsure on what to do, he looks up into the hollow eyes of the flaming skeleton which seems to be glaring down at him.

 **"Not a scratch."**

With that said, it walks past him and when the moving skeleton enters the hotel without a care in the world, Jeffrey chooses that moment to let go of his strength and faint.

Ghost Rider calmly walks into the hallway and ignores all the gasps and panicked cries of the hotel's residents and employees around it. They aren't who it's after.

Rider turns its head to the side where it can see a pair of double doors which have loud music playing behind them. Standing in front of the double doors are two security guards in black suits. Rider walks over towards the doors as the guards pull out handguns when they see the walking flaming skeleton. They shoot at Ghost Rider with the bullets either bouncing off its bones or sinking into its leather jacket before melting away. Rider ignores the bullets hitting it and continues its trek towards the doors, knowing that the loud music is muffling the noise of the handguns.

One guard gets brave and charges at Ghost Rider while his partner reloads his handgun. Rider merely sticks out its left arm and clothesline the guard to the ground. It brings its foot up and ignoring the pleas from the man underneath it, it brings its foot down hard on the man's head, crushing bone and brain matter with ease. The second guard watches the scene with a bit of green touching his skin but he raises his pistol up and fires again but he only makes it to the fourth bullet before Rider grabs him by the throat. Rider raises him up with ease and the guard squirms from under his grip but goes limp after Ghost Rider squeezes hard enough to snap his neck.

Dropping the corpse, Rider walks over to the double doors for the hotel's ballroom and pushes them open to see around a hundred guests in expensive suits and fancy dresses while they dance, drink and laugh to their hearts contents.

Ghost Rider sees through their innocent smiles of enjoyment and see what they truly are, deep in their hearts. Their cold, black hearts that reek of the death of innocents.

Being a fusion of the human, Johnny Blaze and the Demon, Zarathos, Ghost Rider was a bit curious on how a partnership with the strange human could work. Turns out that their partnership is quite useful to have since the strange human who likes to be known as Sage is able to summon and control animals of all sizes and uses them to act as spies. Even now, Sage has hundreds to thousands of animals, spying on Cartels, Drug Lords, and Villains all over the world. Which means that Ghost Rider now has the addresses of the wicked who are just waiting for it to knock on their front doors.

If it had a tongue, Ghost Rider would lick its lips in anticipation as it stares into the crowds of the evil who are starting to notice its arrival. In front of it are the biggest faces that are involved with gangs, drug distribution and human trafficking in the city. All who have no problem destroying the lives of innocents to make their own ones slightly more comfortable. And standing in the middle of a group and socializing is one of the few with the darkest hearts in the room, Maxwell Lord.

Standing at attention by the walls are around twenty security guards in black suits and wearing dark shades, just like the two who are lying behind him, dead. If it isn't for their different facial structures, heights and skin colours, it would think that they are all the same people.

"What is that thing!?" screeched one of the female patrons who points at Ghost Rider, shakily. Almost immediately, the loud music and the celebrations cease as the security guards by the walls all move towards the uninvited guest with their handguns raised. The other occupants all back up, forming a wide space for the guards who all surround the Human/Demon Hybrid.

No questions are asked as the guards all fire at the Ghost Rider, just wanting it dead and done with. With the party involving the 'respected' businessman, Maxwell Lord and his guests with criminal backgrounds, they can't have the chance of someone seeing their faces and telling the authorities or the media.

Bullets rain into Ghost Rider, causing it to step back and flinch as the heavy barrage of lead bullets collide with its skull and bones. One bullet hits it in the face, causing it to twist its skull backwards from the force.

The criminals all watch in shock as the uninvited guest gets continuously sprayed with lead, yet isn't falling down dead like so many of their own victims. A moment later, all the bodyguards guns click, indicating that their weapons are now empty and in need of reloading.

Rider turns its skull back into place to show a smoking bullet in its teeth. The criminals and bodyguards can only watch in awe, horror and fascination as the bullets melt from the heat off of the Ghost Rider's flames.

"H-How?" stuttered a security guard before he gets his mind on straight and empties the clip from his pistol before loading a full one.

Rider turns to the same guard whom spoke before spitting the bullet out of its mouth with enough force to pierce through the skin and bone of his skull. Upon the death of the security guard, the party guests choose that moment to run towards the exit with some staying behind and taking out their own guns to fight back.

With the Ghost Rider blocking the main entrance, there is only one exit left which so happens to be the emergency fire door. Just as one of the guests grabs the handle of the door, his hand erupts into fire before the flames start to climb up his arm to cover the rest of him in a blaze of unholy flames. The man screams as everyone else backs away from the screaming and burning man. Within a few seconds, the man stops his screaming and collapses before the flames die out to reveal nothing but cinder and ashes. To further prove everyone that they can no longer use the emergency fire door and in a sense of irony, a wall of fire covers it

"What do we do now!?" yelled George Freeman, the leader of the city's human trafficking business, hoping that someone will have an idea on how to escape the Demon.

Rider grabs his chain from his chest and with a light pull, the chain unwraps itself and covers itself in fire. **"Now, you all die."** it spoke in a chilling voice.

Maxwell Lord organized the party for all of his investors with the intention to get more money for his upcoming campaign to become mayor of Central City. He can't see that happening when some freaky skeleton that's on fire is killing his investors. "Kill that fucking freak! Kill it now!" he ordered the security guard who reload their handguns and aim them back at the Ghost Rider.

Rider chuckles, darkly in amusement. If emptying their clips into it didn't kill it the first time, what chance is it going to kill it the second time?

Seeing no point on waiting anymore, Rider swings its chain at the security guard in front of him. The chain wraps around the man's neck, causing him to scream in pain because of the hot metal burning his skin. Rider pulls the chain back and pulls the security guard along with it. It grabs the screaming security guard and places him in front of its body just as a barrage of bullets start flying through the air. The bullets sink into its human shield with no care until their ammo runs out again and Rider flings the bleeding corpse at another security guard with enough force to slam them into the wall and break bones.

Now, it runs at another security guard who just finishes reloading his gun. He raises the pistol but Ghost Rider grabs it before he can shoot. The guard shouts in pain as the gun heats up and burns his hand, forcing him to let it go. He backs away as Rider drops the melting gun to the floor. Scowling, the guard throws a punch to Rider's chest but flinches and pulls back his now broken hand. Rider scoffs and throws a simple straight punch to his face which throws the guard across the room with broken teeth, cartilage and a cracked skull.

Grasping its chain tightly, Rider swings the flaming trail of metal over its head several times in a loop before swinging it lower at hip-level. Being within the hitting distance of the chain, the remaining security guards and even a few of the party guests suddenly find themselves cut in half by their waists.

"Die you freak!" roared a member of the Italian Mafia as he sprays bullets into Ghost Rider with his Uzi but just like last time, the bullets show no effect and melts off of its bones and leather jacket. Rider swings its chain which wraps around the man's torso and traps his arms along with it. Said man screams in pain as the heat of the chain starts to rise enough to cause him to start smoking and cause his skin to crack up. When Rider pulls its chain back, it cuts through the man's body which then turns into a pile of ash.

Ghost Rider swings its chain to its side, glaring at everyone in the room. **"Who's next?"**

 **( Coast City - City Park )**

"Somebody, help!" screamed a woman before a hand grabs her mouth, muffling her screams.

"Shut up bitch or this will get nasty for you."

In the home city of the Green Lantern, crime is at an all time low, although there are still incidents which occur throughout the city. One of the said incidents are happening to a mother and her six year old child in the park's male restroom. In the restroom, two tall and muscular dark-skinned men are holding a mother and her son hostage with pocket knives.

The thug in a wife beater is holding the scared child by his shoulder with his knife against his neck. The second thug who's wearing a green jacket is holding the young mother with a lustful smirk on his face. The woman cries muffle in the thug's hand as he harshly gropes her breasts from under her beige blouse. "Keep screaming and your son will get hurt. You wouldn't want that, would ya bitch?" taunted the thug, groping her.

The second thug smirks and presses his knife closer to the crying child's neck to prove his point. The mother's eyes widen in fear for her child's safety and she reluctantly stops her screaming but whimpers as the thug cuts her blouse apart and throws it away before he starts groping her again through her lacy, black bra. "Don't worry. You'll be enjoying this soon enough" told the thug, using one hand to unbuckle his pants.

The child closes his tearful eyes to avoid watching the scene play out in front of him and prays. His mommy and daddy say that God is a powerful man in the sky who helps people in need. That's why he prays. He prays for God to save him and his mommy from the bad men. He prays for the Justice League to save the day like they always do on tv. He prays for anyone to save them.

The sound of the restroom door opening behind them causes the two thugs to face it, feeling annoyed that someone is interrupting them while the mother looks towards the door with hope that it's someone who will save herself and her son.

The anger and annoyance filling the bodies of the thugs quickly flee once their eyes land on the form of Deadshot who is aiming his left gauntlet gun at the thugs. Even the mother stares at him in fear since Deadshot is known worldwide as the second best mercenary in the world who never misses a shot. The only one not staring at the mercenary in fear is the six year old child who turns to face him with eyes full of awe and hope.

Deadshot looks down at the child, his facial expression hidden behind his mask but he speaks in a calm and soothing voice to ease his spirits "Close your eyes, child." The child blinks but does so, although reluctantly.

Once he's sure that the child has his eyes close, Deadshot glares up at the petrified thugs. "There are only a few things I can't stand but if there is one I despise, it's rape." Deadshot glances down at the child who hasn't opened his eyes yet. _"And in front of a child. He's probably just a year older than Zoe."_ The father in him can't even think of how much trauma the child will have after witnessing such deplorable acts happening to his mother in front of his eyes. At least he won't have to see the end result, now that he's here.

The thug holding the child hostage presses his knife against the child's neck and opens his mouth to speak but the moment Deadshot's sharp eyes noticed the thug's arm move, he takes a shot which hits him square in the forehead. Thankfully, the child doesn't open his eyes so he doesn't have to see what he just did but he does flinch from hearing the loud bang. He faces the second thug who seems to be going through the fight of his fight or flight system and runs at himself with the knife he was using on the distraught mother.

Deadshot dodges a slash with ease and kicks the thug into the wall. The thug bounces off the wall but gets his head shoved against it by Deadshot's right hand. The last thing he sees is Deadshot's gauntlet gun before it puts a bullet in his head.

Deadshot let's the thug's head go and watches as the corpse sinks to the floor with a trail of blood following the head on the wall. He turns to face the mother and son who are now hugging each other and crying, not in fear but because they both realise that they don't have to be put through the hell of what the two dead thugs intended to do to them. Deadshot turns and walks towards the door, having more people to kill and so little time to do it.

"Thank you."

Deadshot stops and looks over his shoulder to see the mother, tearfully smiling from over the shoulder of her crying son. He doesn't speak but nods his head and leave, knowing that the cops will arrive soon since he called them earlier.

 _"I could get use to this."_

 **( Watch Tower )**

In front of the Watch Tower's supercomputer, Batman types away, frantically while the main heads of the Justice League watch from behind him. On the screen, there are pictures and information about a government initiation that they call the Avengers. From what information Batman can get from his hacking skills on the government secret servers, they discover that the group is a team of powerful individuals that is to fight against terrorists and threats to the planet. It's practically what the Justice League are but with the backing of the American Government and the United Nations.

Batman brings up more information but about the government branch known as S.H.I.E.L.D. and the head of it, Nick Fury. Unfortunately, there is little to no information about either subject, making Batman very frustrated. He's someone who prepares by knowing the enemy and creating countermeasures. He has a countermesure for every known Villain in the Batcave's database and being a paranoid man, he even has countermeasures made up on all the members of the Justice League, just in case.

"So that's it? We're put out to dry by the world governments? And after everything we did for them?" asked Barry/Flash, frowning in distaste.

"Not exactly" replied Batman, without looking away from the computer screen or from halting his typing. "The governments may put us on the red flag list but they can't be seen trying to harm us. We have the public support and they know it. That's what the Avenger Initiation is for" he told the group of Heroes. "The Avengers are the governments plan for a new face of Heroes. If they succeed, we won't have enough backing and will be forced to face the combined force of the world governments."

"That doesn't sound promising" muttered Hal Jordan, folding his arms with a frown.

"What of the Kryptonite bullets? How do you think they got so much of the rare rock?" asked Martian Manhunter who glances over at Superman who clenches and opens his hands several times, clearly showing how he is feeling frustrated over that fact.

Batman stops his typing and turns to face the group. "I have three theories" he told them, surprising the group that he actually has three ideas on the matter. "My first theory is that the government found a source of Kryptonite that we missed. Possible but unlikely." Some like Superman and Flash nod in agreement. They have made sure to check the planet of any sources of Kryptonite so nobody can exploit it and found none. They find it highly unlikely that someone found a source of the rare rock when they couldn't.

"My second theory is that they made some sort of agreement with Lex Luthor, seeing as he the only one I know which has an excess of Kryptonite on hand. However, it's very unlikely as he is now dead."

"Lex working with the government? Wouldn't surprise me" said Hal Jordan/Green Lantern.

"My third theory is the most disturbing" told Batman, frowning underneath his cowl.

The Flash raises a brow. "Which is~~?"

"Someone is producing it." Those four words are enough to take everyone back.

"Impossible! Nobody can simply make Kryptonite" exclaimed Superman in disbelief. The radioactive material can't simply be made like as if baking a cake!

"Not unless they have the right person working for them" remarked Batman, before he turns back to the supercomputer and types in a few keys. A new tab shows up on the screen, showing a man on fire, similar to that of the Ghost Rider but he has the skin and flesh of a young man. "Meet Firestorm, the combination of Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein. I'm sure you're familiar with them, Barry" he said, surprising Flash.

"Ronnie and the professor? If this is some sort of joke, I'm not laughing" told Barry with a scowl.

"What makes you expect them?" asked Wonder Woman, stepping forward and wondering about the connection between the pair and Kryptonite.

Batman types away on the keyboard with one hand and brings up more files about Firestorm, including the two people who make him. "Six months ago, I intended to invite Firestorm to join the Justice League. However, he had disappeared completely and left no traces to where he is. Both Raymond and Professor Stein vanished in thin air."

"What of their families? Wouldn't they know where they are?" asked Green Lantern.

Batman shakes his head. "I tried. They refused to speak about their whereabouts. No missing person reports have been filed for either of the two. I've also discovered that Raymond's mother and Stein's wife have been receiving money sent directly to their bank accounts every week from an unknown source. Everything screams government involvement."

Wonder Woman nods and folds her arms underneath her breasts. "True but what does this have to do with the production of Kryptonite?"

"I was getting to that" said Batman, bringing in one last file on Firestorm. "Firestorm possess many impressive abilities. Super strength, super durability, pyrokinesis, flight, intangibility and even Nucleokinesis."

Wonder Woman raises a curious brow over hearing the last ability. "What does this, nucleokinesis entail?" she asked since she has never heard of search an ability before.

"In other words, he's a nuclear power plant with no restraints on the power source."

The rest of the Justice League widen their eyes in surprise and awe over hearing what Firestorm can do. "Truly, an imposing foe" gasped Wonder Woman.

Batman nods in agreement. "True. However, it isn't that ability we should be afraid of."

"Seriously? What else can he do?" asked Flash, wondering how someone with that kind of power isn't a member of the Justice League already. From the reports on the screen, it shows a few times where Firestorm saved civilians from danger in New York so it's a good thing that he isn't a Villain. There are enough Super Villains out there and there's no need to start adding one that is powered by nuclear energy.

Batman frowns. "He can manipulate matter and transmutate anything at a molecular level."

Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and even Superman don't fully understand the dangers of such an ability but the Martian Manhunter gasps, knowing exactly what Batman means by that. "In other words, he can transmutate any rock into pure Kryptonite if he so wishes."

"Meaning an endless supply of Kryptonian repellent" explain Batman, looking over to Superman to gauge his reaction.

Superman widens his eyes in shock but calms down. He walks over to the wide window and looks out into the endless space. "Why do we have to be fighting each other when we should be pooling our resources together to fight as one. This is ridiculous" told Superman, glaring at nothing in particular. If what Batman ways is true, Kara and himself are in danger and by the world governments, no less.

Sensing everyone's negative thoughts, Martian Manhunter tries to change the topic. "What of the Akatsuki? Any word on them yet?"

As Batman opens his mouth to respond, the screen blares loudly and a digital world map shows up with red markers, most of them being in America. "We've got police distress calls in Gotham, Central City, Chicago, Coast City and in several more in Brazil." Batman types a few more times before scowling at what he sees. "It's the Akatsuki." On the screen of the supercomputer are pictures and videos of Akatsuki members.

Flash whistles as he watches the fight between Bane and Mammoth. The footage is being shown from a news crew in a helicopter just overhead the fighting. "They can take a punch, that's for sure."

"What's Deadshot doing in Coast City?" asked Green Lantern who doesn't like the idea of the mercenary being in his home city. Without waiting for an answer, he surrounds himself in the power of his ring's light and flies out of the room and towards the teleporter.

"That's my que to leave" said Flash before disappearing in a red blur so he can get to the teleporter and get back to his city. Turns out that the mysterious flaming skeleton is in his city and he'll be damned if he let's it get away.

"I'll head to Chicago" said Wonder Woman but stops when Batman raises his hand.

"No need. Black Canary was in the area and witnessed the situation. A bank robbery took place with no lost of innocent lives." Batman stares stoically at the screen. "The robbers on the other hand didn't make it."

"What happened? Was it Black Canary's doing?" asked the Princess of the Amazons.

"It was Jason."

Wonder Woman flinches and doesn't say anything afterwards, afraid that she might offend the Caped Crusader if she does so. "What's the story with Brazil?" asked Superman, walking up to Batman and looking up at the large computer screen.

Batman brings up a video feed of the Amazon Rainforest. "Look for yourself." Superman does so and is surprised to see five massive roots that are the size of the largest skyscrapers in Metropolis, sticking out of forest floor. "And look who's behind it" said Batman who zooms in on a concentration of flora which shows Poison Ivy lying back without a care in the world.

Wonder Woman walks behind the pair and places her hand on Superman's shoulder. "We'll head there and cut down her weeds before anything else can happen" she told Bruce before she nods to Superman who nods back. The couple fly out of the room to get to teleporter.

"Take over. I'm heading to Gotham" Batman told the Martian Manhunter as he runs off. The Martian nods with the usual blank expressionless face and starts to follow up on the news with the supercomputer.

Page 17 of 17


	6. Akatsuki Vs Justice League

**AN: I've decided on the pairings for Harley, Red Hood and Mammoth. No, Harley won't be paired with Naruto or Deadshot.**

 **I want to remind everyone that I'm not basing the story off of comics since I don't read them. It's all based off of movies so if you want a story line added, send it to me.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **xXx**

 **( Jump City - Titan Tower )**

"Umm, guys. You'll want to see this" said Beast Boy from the couch. A majority of the Titans are currently patrolling around the city with the rest hanging around in the tower, mostly in the living room.

Robin stops his katana training and turns towards Beast Boy with a raised brow when he notices his friend's voice shaking. He sheaths his katana onto his back. "What is it Beast Boy?" he asked after noticing Beast Boy's worried tone. Beast Boy points up at the large television screen and Robin follows the finger's trail and widens his eyes behind his back in surprise. "Impossible" he gasped, watching Mammoth fighting Bane on the news.

Beside Beast Boy, Cyborg is sweating while using his computer programming to figure out the possible reasons for Mammoth's sudden power boost. Mammoth use to be fodder to the Titans after they've beaten him so many times. Now, he's fighting and holding his own against the same man who beat Robin's mentor, Batman.

None is more surprised than Jinx as she watches her former ally and friend fight against one of the biggest Villains on the planet. She has heard of Mammoth's change and his new killer's attitude from her boyfriend and the other Titans but she doesn't believe it. She can't believe it! Mammoth may be a Villain but he is no killer. He'll rob and probably beat you up but he doesn't kill. None of them killed when apart of the Hive Five so why would he start now?

"Turn it up" ordered Robin and Beast Boy complies while grabbing the remote control and turns the volume up so they can hear the blonde reporter.

 _"This is Lucy Grey from Gotham News. As you can see, a fight has broken out in the docks of Gotham City between the crime boss, Bane and an unknown. After a bit of research, we've discovered that his opponent goes by the name, Mammoth._ The camera shifts from Lucy to the fight before pointing back at the reporter. _As you can see, the fighting has gotten pretty intense."_ Lucy grabs her seat when another shock wave shakes the helicopter until it flies to a safer distance. " _Police have arrived on the scene moments ago but have wisely decided to hang back and surround the area. At the mean time, we wil-wait, what's that?"_

The camera turns towards the docks and to everyone's surprise, they see Batman hiding behind an upturned crate and watching the fight. _"It's Batman! The Dark Knight has arrived on the scene but it seems that not even he wants to get in between these two monsters!"_

 **( Star City )**

Ghost Rider can't help but be in a good mood. It ended the lives of over a hundred evil souls and doesn't have any of those annoying police cars chasing after it. The day would be even better if it didn't have a red blur following it.

Looking over its shoulder, Ghost Rider hisses when it sees a red blur following it and gaining speed fast. It revs its motorcycle which makes it do a wheelie and speeds down the streets of Star City.

Being followed by the fastest man in the world, it doesn't take long for the Flash to appear beside Ghost Rider's motorcycle. Flash places his hands in front of his mouth and speaks. "This is the police. Stop your vehicle and place your hands on your... head?" he mocked while throwing a glance to Ghost Rider's flaming skull.

The Demon/Human hybrid doesn't find the Flash's gimmick funny and shows it by throwing a punch which Flash dodges. The speedster appears by the other side of Ghost Rider and wears a more serious expression on his face. "Fine. If you want to play it like that then I can play."

Before Ghost Rider can try to go for another punch, Flash takes a straight right down an alleyway. Ghost Rider looks over its shoulder in confusion, wondering why and where the speedster disappeared to. Three blocks later, Flash blurs out of another alleyway and tackles Ghost Rider off of its vehicle. The pair bounce off of the pavement until Ghost Rider collides into a brick wall , flat on his back while the Flash uses him as a sort of cushion to ease his own landing.

Flash doesn't notice Ghost Rider's motorcycle driving away without its owner.

Ghost Rider finds itself stuck in the brick wall and moves to get out but a punch to the face halts its movement. Flash takes a step back and starts to dish out a barrage of punches that move so fast that they look like red blurs. Each punch hits Ghost Rider and starts to push him deeper into the brick wall while also annoying it greatly.

Using the fact that it's stuck in wall to its advantage, Ghost Rider uses its arms as leverage to lift its legs up and kicks the Flash away. Barry finds himself flying across the street and lands into a SUV while making a large dent into it from the impact. The speedster gets back to its feet while holding his head. "I get it, you're strong" said Flash, shaking off its headache. At the same time, Ghost Rider pushes itself out of the brick wall and brushes off rubble from its shoulders. "However, everyone knows that speed beats strength."

To prove his fact, Flash disappears in a red blur and runs by Ghost Rider while throwing a punch to its jaw, snapping it to the side. Before it can fix its jaw, Flash appears against and punches it to the other side. Ghost Rider grabs its skull and straightens it with a sickening crack echoing throughout the dark and empty streets.

Flash appears across the street and blurs towards Ghost Rider and throws a punch. To Barry's surprise, he finds his fast punch in the hand of the moving skeleton. He looks at the caught fist before looking up at who's holding it and sees that it's pulling back its other fist for a punch. Thinking quickly, Flash grabs Ghost Rider's flaming skull and ignoring the slow burning to his hand, uses his super speed to vibrate it.

Ghost Rider soon loses its strength from the vibrations and let's go of Flash's hand while also giving up on trying to throw a punch. After ten seconds of the vibrating, Flash let's go and starts blowing into his burnt hand. "Hot! Hot! Hot!"

Ghost Rider collapses to its knees and holds its face, trying to ease the shaking. Placing its fingers in its mouth, it blows a loud whistle, surprising Flash that it can even move after going through all of that. Before he can apprehend the moving skeleton, Flash hears the sound of a loud engine and looks to his left to see a flaming wheel before it collides into his chest. The force throws him down the street and into a lamp post which bends under the force.

Finding the strength to stand, Ghost Rider gets back to its feet and throws a leg over its motorcycle. Revving the engine, it does a 360° doughnut before stopping beside the recovering speedster.

While on his knee, Flash groans in pain but looks up when he feels a sudden increase in heat. He makes the mistake in looking at the empty sockets of where Ghost Rider's eyes are suppose to be and finds a sudden weight fall on his shoulders. He tries to look away and run but something is compelling him to stay.

Ghost Rider glares down at Flash and makes his judgement of him quickly. **"Innocent."**

For some reason, the weight on Barry's shoulders disappears, leaving him feeling almost as light as a feather. That lovely feeling soon vanishes as Ghost Rider lifts a boot and kicks it into the Flash's face. Flash's head bounces off of the dented lamp post and hits against the hard pavement floor. With groggy eyes, the last thing Flash sees is the flaming wheels of Ghost Rider's motorcycle before he falls into unconsciousness.

 **( Metropolis )**

In the city of Metropolis, three known Super Villains live in an apartment that has three bedrooms, a small bathroom and a living room that is connected to the kitchen. It's nothing too fancy but it is cheap and the owner doesn't care about their 'day jobs'.

One of the Villains is sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn seeds in her hand. The hand holding the bowl sparks and starts cooking the popping popcorn while she uses her other hand to flicker through the television channels with the remote control. When all the popcorn seeds are done, she grabs one and throws it up in the air and tries to catch it with her mouth but fails as it gets caught in her spikey blue hair.

"I really wished you didn't play with your food" sighed Giganta as she sits on the other end of the couch. Sometimes, her roommate can just be so immature.

"And I wished I was filthy rich and lived in a mansion with loads of hot butlers but you don't see me complaining" remarked Livewire before she attempts to get another piece of popcorn into her mouth but succeeds this time. She stops flickering through channels when the Gotham News channel catches her interest. "Cool! A fight is going on in Gotham and Bane is in on it."

"Who's the person he's fighting against?" asked Giganta with interest. Not many times when a fight goes down in Gotham and Batman isn't apart of it.

Livewire studies Bane's opponent. "Don't know but he does look familiar. Where have I seen him before?" she asked herself. Maybe she did a heist with him before?

Giganta reconises the familiarity of the large man as well and narrows her eyes at the screen before they widen in recognition. "Wait a minute, isn't that Shimmer's brother?" she asked, remembering the pictures she saw in Shimmer's room which shows her beside her towering brother. He looks even bigger but that could just be the television adding some pounds. What was his name again?

Livewire almost chocked on her popcorn. "That's Shimmer's brother? No way! Shimmer's bro is big, this guy is huge!" she exclaimed, pointing at the screen.

Giganta ignores Livewire and turns her face to look over her shoulder. "Shimmer! There's something on the TV that you need to see!"

"Can't it wait!? I'm in the shower!" yelled Shimmer's voice from behind the bathroom door. Even with the sound of the shower on, Giganta can tell that she's annoyed over having her shower time interrupted.

"Not if it's about your brother fighting Bane."

"WHAT!" The noise from the shower stops and the door opens with the Metahuman running out in only a towel to hide her decency, although she is still wet from the shower as water drips from her hair. She looks at the television and lo and behold, her brother is on it and is fighting against Bane of all people. "What is that idiot doing?"

"Kicking ass, that's what!" laughed Livewire before she throws more popcorn into her mouth.

 **( Gotham - Docks )**

Bane and Mammoth unleash a fury of punches that are moving so fast that they look like blurs to the human eye. It also seems like they are getting very few hits in on each other as they tend to use punches to block. This changes when Bane suddenly grasps Mammoth's outstretched arm and his collar before using his overwhelming strength to lift the Metahuman over his head before slamming him down onto the floor, cracking it in the process.

Mammoth groans over the pain in his back but he rolls over just in time to avoid Bane's foot which crushes the floor where his head use to be. He stands up and tackles the Villain and runs with him into a crate before he throws him into it. Bane hits the crate hard but before he can get up, Mammoth punches him across the jaw and grabs a hold of his face before throwing a few ore punches before the Villain eventually kicks him away.

Bane stands back up, cracks his fingers and walks towards the Metahuman but stops when he hears the noise of crushing metal. He looks down at his feet and sees an assault rifle which is now destroyed from under his foot. Turning around, Bane grins when he sees that the crate he crashed into has a large hole in its side which gives him a perfect view of all the weapons in it.

 _"Finally! And what perfect timing"_ he thought before picking up a pair of assault rifles. Hearing the 'supposed' newbie behind him, Bane quickly turns around and fires at the Metahuman with both assault rifles in his hands.

Mammoth covers his face with his arms and continues his run while ignoring the bullets bouncing off the protective suit that Sage made for him. The bullets made of lead feel more like bug bites than anything else. Annoying but harmless.

Seeing as the guns are doing nothing to Mammoth, Bane drops them and picks up a bigger gun from the crate. The gun he takes out so happens to be a rocket launcher which he shoots at the incoming Metahuman. Being so close and running too fast, Mammoth has no time to avoid the rocket which explodes and launches him to the side in an explosion of flames and shrapnel.

Bane drops the empty rocket launcher and walks towards the downed Metahuman. When he gets to his feet, Bane's surprised see the Meahuman is still alive and breathing. Taking a closer look, he notices that his bodysuit is smoking but other than that, there are no damage to it. "You have proven to be a worthy opponent. You have earned my respect. Not many people have earned that privilege so die knowing that" spoke Bane before roughly grabbing Mammoth by the throat and he lifts him to eye level while choking him. "Now, let go. It'll be easy for you if you just let go."

Mammoth grabs Bane's hand and tries to get him to let go but his grip is too strong around his neck. "H-How a-about you l-let g-go" choked out Mammoth before kneeing Bane in the stomach. This causes the Villain to let go and lurch forward but Mammoth uses this chance to punch him across the face. Bane takes a step back but recovers and intends to attack only for another punch to hit him across the jaw. And another and another which keeps pushing him back a step with each punch.

However, Bane takes an extra step back to avoid the fifth punch and punches Mammoth back before he charges with his hands out. Mammoth stops and charges as well until both clash with each overs hands in their grips and foreheads touching. Both clench their teeth as they try and overpower the other.

"You will die tonight!" exclaimed Bane before he starts to inject even more Venom into his body. His already grotesque body enlarges even more as veins throb and his muscles vibrate under the influence of the drug. As Bane's large body starts growing bigger, Mammoth starts to struggle even more under Bane's increasing strength. It gets so bad that the Metahuman is forced onto one knee and struggles just to keep his balance.

"Any last words?" asked Bane who's ready to end him.

Nobody notices Mammoth's cuffs glowing slightly brighter.

Mammoth's arms shake and he grits his teeth but to the surprise of everyone who's watching, he smirks. "Just one. Release!"

Mammoth's cuffs glow an even darker shade of red before they suddenly detach from his wrists and fall to the floor. The news crew, Batman and the entire city seem to have lost the ability to speak as the only sound that can be heard is the cutting of wind from the helicopter's propeller. All of a sudden, the noise returns as Mammoth brings something completely new to the battle.

Pandemonium.

A powerful red energy envelops Mammoth and takes shape of a second skin with a red tail and rabbit ears. His features change, if only slightly. Mammoth's hair starts to grow longer and spikier, his already sharp canines grow even sharper and his eyes change into demonic red slits. The cuts and bruises on Mammoth's body begin to heal and close up with steam escaping the wounds.

All in all, Mammoth looks completely different.

 **( Metropolis )**

"What the hell is going on with your brother?" asked Livewire who is no longer in a humorous mood and is now staring at the television screen in shock and fear. She looks down and notices that her hand is shaking uncontrollably. _"What's happening?"_ she thought to herself as she uses her other hand to grab her shaking wrist to try and stop it.

Giganta doesn't speak, preferring to watch the television screen in a daze. There's just so much... power! She can't take her eyes off of Mammoth, even if she wants to try.

"I don't know" replied Shimmer in disbelief. Her brother has always been strong but what she's watching is something completely new to her. New and terrifying. She watches the screen while inwardly wondering, what has happened to her brother?

 **xXx**

The Gotham News helicopter starts to struggle in the air as powerful winds starts blowing hard against it, just after Mammoth chose to take off his cuffs. The pilot decides that they should leave and flies away to safety, much to the disappointment of the Gotham News crew and everybody who is watching the news.

All in all, Bane only has one word to describe the new Mammoth. "Demon" he breathed out in shock.

That shock quickly finds itself replaced with unbelievable pain. He screams out in pain when he finds his arms bent completely the wrong way. What else, the dark red energy surrounding Mammoth is starting to burn away at the skin and flesh of his hands. He tries to pull them back but Mammoth is gripping his hands with enough force to pop his knuckles.

Mammoth pulls back his head and throws it out as he roars one of the loudest roars anyone ever hears in their entire lives. The shockwave of the powerful roar hits Bane at point-blank range, throwing him across the other side of the docks while destroying it even more than before. When the shockwave ends, Bane is seen on his stomach with his arms and head hanging over the edge.

With whatever energy he has left, Bane pushes himself onto his back to look up at Mammoth who is towering over him and looking down at him with those non-human eyes. No words are spoken between the two as Mammoth grasps Bane by his face and lifts him up.

Ignoring Bane's yells of pain from the energy eating away through his mask and face, Mammoth clenches his left fist and pulls it back. With all of his strength, he throws a punch that hits Bane square in the chest, throwing him across the sea in speeds that cut a trench through the water. Bane flies off in the distance but Mammoth knows that he doesn't need to see the body to know that Bane is dead. One of his punches on their own can break concrete and bend steel. One of his powered punches can easily _**break**_ steel.

Turning around, he walks towards his cuffs while walking past craters and cracks he made during the fight. He picks up the cuffs and places them back on his wrists. Almost immediately, the power which he was blessed with by Sage subsides and he soon loses a lot of his own strength. He falls to his knees, feeling completely out of breath. While the power is incredible, he always feels exhausted from using it.

Sadly, he can't take a break because he soon notices someone standing in front of him. Looking up, Mammoth sees Batman staring at him with his eyes narrowed. An awkward silence is shared between the two as Mammoth only has one thought in mind.

 _"Crap"_ thought Mammoth before Batman blurs in his vision and everything goes dark.

 **( Brazil - Amazon Rainforest )**

"What on earth" gasped Superman in awe as he looks at the massive roots that tower over the rainforest. Wonder Woman and himself have to fly over the clouds just so they can be at a safe distance from the massive roots. From the reports and the evidence in front of them, it's obvious that the only one who has the ability to do this is Poison Ivy. Although, Clark can't remember the last time the Metahuman showed so much power.

"This is Poison Ivy's work?" asked Wonder Woman who, just like Superman, doesn't recall the Metahuman being so powerful.

"Most likely. Lets look around and find her" replied Superman before he flies down to the rainforest with Wonder Woman following close behind. Their arrival isn't missed as the massive roots start to move.

Wonder Woman and Superman split up to dodge the incoming roots that threaten to pierce or crush them. However, they find little trouble with Superman using his heat vision to cut through them with ease while Wonder Woman uses her sword to slice them apart. Even with the size of the roots, it doesn't take the pair long to finish the job and destroy them.

Neither notice a pair of powerful eyes watching them from the shadows of the rainforest. _"So this is Superman's power?"_ thought Naruto as he scans the 'supposed' most powerful man in the world. He had expected the Justice League to send someone powerful but he didn't expect them to send Wonder Woman _and_ Superman.

Wonder Woman is enough for Poison Ivy to handle but adding Superman will only lead to defeat. Which is why he'll need to interfere before anything can get too serious.

"Where is she hiding?" Diana asked while dropping to the forest floor and sheathing her sword.

Superman flies overhead and uses his X-Ray Vision to scan through the forest. It doesn't take him long to find her with his X-Ray Vision and his enhanced eyesight. "I found her. She's hiding in the distance in that" said Superman, pointing at a tower which is made of roots, leaves and flowers.

Diana floats beside her boyfriend and sees the tower in the distance. Without warning, she charges at the tower while ignoring Superman's shout for her to stop. It turns out that she should have as a massive Venus flytrap bursts from the forest floor with its mouth wide open to devour the Amazon in one gulp. However, it doesn't happen as a red beam cuts through the plant with ease.

"Are you alright?" asked a worried Superman as he floats beside a shocked Wonder Woman who stares down at the dead plant that was so close to ending her life.

"I am. Thank you." She says it sincerely but inside, she curses herself for getting too easily distracted with the objective on hand. That mistake has almost killed her.

A mistake which isn't missed by Naruto.

Clark nods and turns to the tower and notices a difference about it. "Good. Time to get ready cause it looks like she's going to grace us with her presence."

The tower made of greenery has a balcony near the top of it and on the balcony is Poison Ivy, walking to the edge with a sense of grace that's hard to find nowadays. With his super vision, Superman notices a clear difference in the Metahuman from the last time he saw her. Her red hair looks to be glowing, giving off an appearance that it's on fire, her smooth green skin looks to be even healthier than normal and her eyes are now glowing a deep shade of green that screams power. For a brief few seconds, he finds himself captivated with her beauty before he knocks himself out of his stupor after remembering about her ability of using pheromones to control men.

"Come to see what I've done with the place?" asked Poison Ivy, waving her hand around to indicate the now thriving rainforest. It's amazing what the mixture of the Green and Nature Chakra can do for the environment. "Quite the improvement, wouldn't you say?"

"This stops now, Ivy" told Superman, sternly. "Come along quietly. You don't want this to get ugly."

Poison Ivy smirks in amusement, clearly not feeling intimidated at the thought of facing two of the most powerful members of the Justice League. "When has this never gotten ugly?" she asked, humorously.

Clark narrows his eyes and glares. "Very well. I warned you." With nothing else to say, Superman blurs at Poison Ivy with speeds that the human eye can't hope to track. Poison Ivy still holds her smirk, having no problem that a Kryptonian is heading towards her. After all, she knows that Sage is hiding somewhere within the rainforest and watching.

Before Superman can catch the Villain, a stinging pain erupts in his right abdomen before he feels an unbelievable amount of pain spread all over his body. He can't hold back the scream from escaping his throat or from shaking the rainforest. Clark has been put through a lot since he has become Superman but none of those experiences can hold a candle to what he's feeling right now. Even fighting Darkseid didn't bring him this much pain. He can't explain it but it's almost like as if every cell in his body is being constantly prodded with a red hot needle.

Almost reluctantly, he gazes down to the source of the pain and sees a black rod sticking out of him. Blood, his blood, drips off the rod and into the forest floor. Feeling a sudden lost of his strength, Superman barely hovers in the air before he finally collapses.

Wonder Woman gasps in horror when she sees Clark get injured. She had seen the black rod shooting out of the forest floor but she got distracted over Clark actually getting hurt that she didn't try to find the source of the weapon that can pierce through the Man of Steel. She notices him waver in the air before he collapses altogether. She moves fast and grabs Clark before he can hit the floor and presses the communication device in her ear. "Teleport us up, J'onn! Superman's injured!" she almost yelled out.

Diana almost signs in relief when she feels the usual tingling sensation of the teleportation system activating. Before they teleport back up to the Watch Tower, she glares over at Poison Ivy and inwardly promises vengeance on her and whoever injured Clark.

Poison Ivy merely smirks and waves the Amazon Princess off as she teleports away.

Superman is known by many names all over the world. Man of Steel, Mr. Invincible and to some, God.

Yet, in front of her very eyes, Pamela has just witnessed Sage take away his Godhood and turn him into a mere mortal like the rest of them. With a smirk, she presses her Akatsuki ring and vanishes to the other dimension.

She can't wait to tell everyone about what she has seen today.

 **( Gate City )**

Deadshot can feel his patience running thin, a feat some may declare as impressive.

The thug he has been following for the last hour is taking another smoke break.

For the fourth time!

"The other two just couldn't keep it in their pants, could they? No~, they had to get frisky with a woman who clearly didn't want anything to do with them" murmured Deadshot in annoyance as he watches the thug from a rooftop across the street. Being in the suburbs, the buildings aren't that high so he has to keep low to prevent himself from being seen but with it being two o'clock at night, the darkness helps him to stay out of sight.

Inwardly, he promises himself that if the thug has another smoke break, he'll just kill him and go on his own. How hard can it be to actually find the Deadlight gang hideout anyway? It's not like he can simply return to Sage and tell him that he wasn't listening when the boss was explaining to him about the whereabouts of the headquarters for the Deadlight gang.

The reason the gang has to be destroyed is because they are one of the many Anti-Mutant group supporters who believe that they should handle Mutants in their own way. Said way being torturing and murdering them, no matter if the Mutants are innocents or not.

The thug finishes his _fourth_ cigarette and walks down the street again. Deadshot watches him from the scope of his rifle until he has to jump over a few rooftops to keep his sights on the target. After fifteen minutes of following his target, Deadshot notices him take a straight right down an alley beside a diner. Having lost sight of him, Deadshot runs towards the edge of the rooftop and jumps off while grabbing a drain pipe to skid down to the floor, safely.

Once his feet touches the floor, he runs across the empty street into the alley. He ducks behind a trio of trash cans and peeks over them to see his target talking to what looks to be a guard. When they finish talking, his target walks into the back door of the diner before the guard closes the door and leans on it with his arms crossed.

Deadshot narrows his eyes and scans the guard. He simply looks like anyone you would find in the suburbs, wearing faded blue jeans, cut up trainers and a hoodie over a T-shirt. However, the mercenary doesn't miss the lump in the back of his pants, signifying a gun.

 _"One step at a time"_ he thought before white smoke poofs in both of his hands. When the smoke disperses, an AK-12 with red dot sights and a silencer attachment appears in his hands. He calls her Lucy, after his first girlfriend.

He's sentimental like that.

With the simplest of ease, he aims his rifle and pulls the trigger. The lone bullet sails through the air and pierces through the guard's temple, making him collapse to the side, dead.

Running over to the door, he ignores the corpse and disperses his rifle. He reaches his hands behind his back and two poofs of smoke later, he pulls them back to show that he's now holding a small drone on wheels and a small tablet on hand.

 **( Think of the drone used in Rainbow Six Siege )**

Dropping the drone onto the floor, he connects his tablet, via Bluetooth, to the small device and uses it to control the drone. The drone moves and rolls underneath the door while Deadshot controls its movement and watch where it's going by using the installed camera.

As he drives the drone around the back of the diner, he memorizes every guard, their location and weapons so he can plan his entrance. After scanning the interior, he drives the drone into what looks to be a storage room for meat. It catches his attention since he can see his target walk into it while two guards are stationed in front of it.

However, the meat has been removed and instead, there are tables joined together with some shady people sitting by them, including his target. Deadshot grins underneath his mask as he remembers each and every man in the room.

 _"Looks like a meeting between all the big shots of the Deadlight group. And here I am without an invite."_ Placing the tablet onto his belt, another poof of smoke shows a SPAS-12 shotgun in his hands. _"Good thing I found one."_

Aiming the gun, he shoots a shell through the wooden door and into the guard behind it. After kicking down the rest of the door, Deadshot walks around the corner with one of his gauntlets out and shoots the two incoming guards. With his targets being at the other end of the hallway, he makes his way over, only for a thug to jump out from a doorway and grab his shotgun.

Deadshot struggles with the thug and tries to take away his gun but the guy won't let go of his 'toy'. If there's something that the Akatsuki know about Deadshot, he doesn't appreciate it when someone tries to take his 'toys' away from him.

 _"Enough of this"_ he thought before simply kicking the man in the crotch. As expected, the thug let's go of the shotgun in favour of holding his crotch to ease the throbbing pain. This gives Deadshot the perfect chance to aim his gun at the man's head and blow a large hole in it.

Hearing noise to the other end of the hallway, he sees a group of four men aiming their guns at him. With no other choice, Deadshot jumps through the doorway to avoid the barrage of bullets.

The thugs make a move to follow but stop when they hear noise by their feet. Looking down, they notice something metal and cylinder roll by their feet. Before one can curse, it explodes in a blinding flash of light.

Hearing the curses and yells of pain, Deadshot takes this as the moment to turn from the doorway and lay waist to the four blind men. With four pulls of the trigger, the group collapses with blood spilling out of their chests.

Noticing a lack of noise, Deadshot makes his way to the storage room which 'strangely' has a small crack open. He grabs the tablet from his belt and uses it to look through the camera of his drone which is still in the storage room. Low and behold, he can see that the head honchos of the Deadlight gang are hiding behind the upturned tables with their guns aiming at the only entrance.

 _"Idiots"_ he thought with a chuckle. When there's only one entrance, that means there's only one exit. The rascist idiots just locked themselves is an airtight room made of metal.

Deadshot replaces his SPAS-12 with a grenade but not any simple grenade that blows up in ones face. The grenade he's holding at the moment so happens to be an _Incendiary_ grenade. Pulling the pin, he chucks the grenade through the gap in the door before closing it. To make sure that there's no possible escape, he kicks the metal door handle which bends under the force of his kick.

Deadshot whistles as he calmly walks out of the diner, ignoring the screams of agony from within the smoking restaurant. What he can't ignore is the green rope that suddenly wraps itself around his torso and arms. Following the source of the green rope, Deadshot sees the Green Lantern hovering in the air with the rope connected to his ring. "I hate you heroes and your timing."

"Too bad. You're coming with me and know that you don't have a choice on the matter" said Hal with a stern glare.

Deadshot raises a brow under his mask. "And the diner that's on fire behind me?"

His answer comes in the form of Green Lantern using his ring to create a large pool of water over the diner before the glass vanishes, allowing the water to drench the diner and put out the fire.

Deadshot whistles in appreciation. "Where can I get a ring like that?" The rope tightens around him, making it hard for the mercenary to breathe.

"Enough. You'll tell me where the Akatsuki headquarters are and who is leading the group" ordered Green Lantern with a tone that means business.

While coughing up air, Deadshot notes how the Green Lantern asks for the leader of the Akatsuki. _"So they know? Sage isn't going to like hearing that."_

"Or what? You're going to arrest me? Put me in jail, only for me to get out next week? I'm so~ scared" mocked Deadshot before the rope tightens even more, making it even harder for him to breathe. At this point, he's simply choking.

"Fine. We have other ways on getting what we want" said Hal, referring to J'onn who can read Deadshot's mind in order to get the information they need.

"SURPRISE ATTACK!"

Hal turns to the sound of the yell, only to see what looks to be an oversized hammerhead with a smiley face painted on it. Before he can comprehend with what he's seeing, the hammer slams into him and smashes him against the pavement. Holding onto the handle of the large hammer is none other than Harley Quinn who greets Deadshot with a oversized smile and a twirl of her hammer when it shrinks down to size.

Over the year of training, Sage had gifted Harley with her new favourite 'toy' to replace the one she got from her former 'pudding'. And this one doesn't come with a bomb like before. Instead, it comes with Seals that activate when Harley wills them to. Whenever she wants, she can increase the length of the hammer and the size of the hammerhead as much as she wants and the best thing about it is that it doesn't increase in weight so she doesn't have to worry about that.

 **( Thanks to ANBUspider for weapon idea )**

"Someone call for help?" she asked, leaning the hammer against her shoulder.

"Not really but it's appreciated" replied Deadshot after taking a few fresh breaths of air. Both turn to Green Lantern when they notice him starting to get up. "I'll race you back to base" he said. before clicking his Akatsuki ring.

"No fair, you cheated!" pouted Harley before she clicks her own ring.

 **( Washington D.C - White House )**

"As you can see Mr. President, S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to subdue three of the biggest powerhouses of the Justice League and only with a handful of operatives and our first three recruits for the Avengers Initiation" said Nick Fury to President Matthews in the Presidential Office.

In front of the desk is a television set which is showing the President of the United States the footage of the confrontation between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Big Trio of the Justice League. Beside it stands Nick Fury who explains everything about the confrontation to the President.

Matthews leans back into his chair and hums in thought. "Impressive, but I'm curious about these Kryptonite bullets. Where did you obtain that amount of Kryptonite?"

"I knew you'd ask that" said Nick before clicking a button on the remote control. The footage on the screen changes to show a large, clean white lab with soldiers and scientists walking around. The screen focuses on what looks to be a glass box and in it is a young, dark-skinned boy who's head is on fire. "Meet Firestorm, the combination of the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Martin Stein and high school student, Ronnie Raymond" he introduced.

Matthew blinks. "You're saying that this Firestorm is actually two people in one body?"

Fury nods. "Correct. Raymond controls the body while Professor Stein offers advice, mentally. They are also the reason for our abundance of Kryptonite." The camera shows a scientist pushing a cart in the glass box while also wearing a radiation suit. He leaves almost immediately while Firestorm takes out a simple rock from the cart.

All of a sudden, Firestorm starts glowing so brightly that the screen goes blank for a few moments. When the bright light dies down, it shows Firestorm holding a piece of Kryptonite, the same size as the rock he was holding a moment ago.

Fury places his hands behind his back and watches the President's flabbergasted expression with pride. "As you just saw, Firestorm is our source of Kryptonite. He possesses useful abilities such as super strength, intangibility and flight. But his most useful power is his ability to manipulate matter. With this power, he can turn cement into diamonds, wood into gold and rock into Kryptonite."

Matthew takes a minute to catch his breath over hearing the details of Firestorm's powers. "You're telling me that they can create anything out of any material?"

Fury has to hold back his smartass comment about repeating himself. "Yes. He's a powerful ally to have."

"And I take it that he will be joining the Avengers Initiation" said Matthew as more of a statement than a question.

"If you allow it. His powers will benefit the group, greatly."

Matthew leans forward and folds his fingers in front of himself. After a moment to think, he sighs and stands up. "Very well. Congratulations, Director Fury, you have the official backing of the United States government. I will explain the details to the UN during the next conference" he said while shaking Fury's hand.

"Thank you sir. You won't regret this decision."

"Make sure I don't. You're dismissed."

Fury nods and turns around with his trench coat flaring behind him. When he walks out of the Presidential Office, his calm expression shifts to a stern one. As he walks down the hallway, his phone starts buzzing so he takes it out and answers. "What is it?"

"Sir, we found it."

 **( Naruto's Dimension )**

Ignoring the gossip of his allies from afar, Naruto takes a seat in front of the river and goes into deep thought.

Today has shown the Jinchuriki that the Akatsuki will need to be better prepared to face future threats. especially against the Justice League who will pose a problem if they continue to get in their way. There's also the fact that they have seen through his ploy on making Red Hood look like the leader of the Akatsuki. While it's a bit of an annoyance, he'll admit that it doesn't probe to be an actual problem.

He doesn't want the members of the Justice League to suffer through harm since he will admit that they do keep the peace and save lives. It's just that their naivety and incompetence is also the reason for the deaths of innocent lives as they believe that their way is the only way and whoever isn't with them is against them. He won't be the reason for their deaths but if they do continue to oppose the Akatsuki, he will have to send them something more than an injured Superman.

There's also the idea of pairing everyone up with a partner to increase sufficiency and to prevent capture. From what he can remember, the Akatsuki during his time did the exact same strategy so he may as well follo their example. It's due to Mammoth being on his own that he got captured and Deadshot would be the same if it wasn't for Harley saving him at the last minute.

 _"Jason and Harley worked well during the attack on Black Mask. Their history and personalities may clash but I'll cross that road when it comes to it. Deadshot and Poison Ivy can prove to be a powerful pair if they can actually work with each other. I doubt Ghost Rider would appreciate it if I were to give it a partner. Works better on its own anyway. Mammoth and Gizmo have experience with working as a team so they'll stay together. That reminds me, I'll need to get Mammoth back and soon."_ Apparently, the Justice League have a member who can read minds. If they were to read Mammoth's mind, they'll know of his own presence in the world and he can't have that. Not now.

There's too much to do and it seems like there's so little time to do them. Even now, when the government is beginning to make up the group that's known as the Avengers Initiation. A group that has the backing of an actual government and apparently aren't afraid of getting their hands dirty. A plan that Naruto can get behind, only if it isn't for the government power controlling them. From what he remembers Red Hood saying once, they'll just spray a lot of red tape which will make it impossible for them to get some serious work done. There's also the threat of corruption which Naruto won't try to ignore. If it can happen in his own time, it can definitely happen now.

Opening his Rinne-Sharingan eyes, dozens of ethereal orbs spring to life and float in the air, in front of Naruto. Each orb contains an image of individuals all over the world who he has been keeping an eye on since he found out about their potential. With the Justice League and this new Avengers group, Naruto will need to recruit some more individuals into the Akatsuki so they can protect themselves while also having the muscle to fight the threats to the world.

The orbs represents one of Naruto's animal spies who he has watching for everyone and everything. Naruto holds out his right hand before one of the orbs floats down and hovers over it. This orb is different than the others as it doesn't contain just one individual but two. It shows the pair ducking under police gunfire before shooting back with their own respective guns that spit out fire and ice.

 _"You two will do."_

Naruto turns to look over his shoulder. "Jason, Harley, I have two potential recruits for you to find."

"Yay! New friends" cheered Harley in joy.

"Yippee. More pains in the ass" groaned Red Hood while twirling his finger to show his 'enthusiasm'.

"Wait a fucking minute, what about Mammoth!? We gotta spring his ass out of prison" yelled Gizmo.

Deadshot shakes his head. "And this is why I hate working with newbies" he muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. Beside him, Poison Ivy nods in agreement with him.

Gizmo turns around to Deadshot with pure fury on his face. "Fuck you! He kicked Bane's ass didn't he?" Spending a year with the former Villains has made Gizmo grow an even bigger spine which he uses to show no fear to Deadshot or Poison Ivy. Harley still freaks him out though.

Naruto stands and turns around. "No need to fear for Mammoth. I'll retrieve him myself."

 **( Mediterranean Ocean )**

In the wide expanse of the Mediterranean Ocean, a lone body lays afloat in the water with nothing else in sight. Said body belongs to the crippled Bane who lacks the strength and health to swim so all he can do is suffer through the agonizing pain and embrace the sweet chill of a slow death.

However, a hole rips wide open in the sky above the crippled Villain and brings down a bright blue light upon him. Soon, the Villain starts to float up in the air and towards the large hole in the sky. When he passes through the hole, it closes up with nobody to witness what just transpired.

 **Akatsuki Members: Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Red Hood, Poison Ivy, Mammoth, Gizmo, Ghost Rider, ?, ?, ?**

Page 15 of 15


	7. Rescue

**AN: Naruto will not be paired with Poison Ivy.**

 **Captain Cold and Heatwave will be based from the Legends of Tomorrow TV series because I loved their characters in it.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **xXx**

 **( Watch Tower - Infirmary )**

The infirmary for the Watch Tower currently has a new patient living among the white sheets and white walls. Said patient being none other than Superman who rarely makes any trips to the infirmary, if only to visit the patients.

Now, he is lying on a clean white bed with no shirt on, giving everyone a perfect view of the bandages wrapped around his muscled torso. Sitting beside him is his girlfriend, Diana who comforts him by holding his hand, if only to ease the pain a little.

This does little to ease the Man of Steel's emotions as he stares up at the white ceiling with a blank expression on his face. In his head, he's thinking about how he would always come out of fights unscathed unless he is fighting Luthor with his stockpile of Kryptonite weaponry or Darkseid. Yet, the government now have an abundance of Kryptonite to use against him and Kara and now, something new and different was able to catch him by surprise and injure him, gravely.

Yet, all he can do now is rest and wait for Doctor Fate to finish his research on the black rod that caused him to be in the infirmary in the first place.

"Clark" whispered Diana, noticing her boyfriend's expression change from blank to solemnity.

"I never thought of myself as invincible. No matter what everyone says, I was never invulnerable. I can bruise, I can bleed and I can die. Yesterday has shown me just how much I'm right."

"Clark..."

"I could have died" said Clark, turning his head to face the love of his life. "If that rod had hit somewhere vital, I would have died and nobody would have been able to do a thing about it."

"Don't say that! You're alive and well so don't talk like that!" scowled the Amazon, her voice on the verge of shouting.

Before Clark can reply, the slide door of the infirmary opens to show Doctor Fate walking in. "Good, you're awake. Is Bruce around?"

Diana shakes her head. "He and J'onn are going to interrogate the prisoner. They should be back soon."

"What did you find out about the rod?" Clark asked the sorcerer, wanting to know the properties which gave the rod the ability to pierce his skin. Magic is his best bet since it doesn't have the familiar green glow of Kryptonite.

Doctor Fate stops in front of the Kryptonian's bed and looks upon the couple. "I have learned little about the origins of the rod but yet, I've learned so much more about myself."

Diana raises a brow, feeling confused over the odd answer. "What do you mean by that?"

Doctor Fate raises a hand which glows to show a magical projection of the black rod which injured Superman. "Whatever metal it's made out of, it isn't found on earth, that I am certain. What I'm not certain about is the energy within the metal."

"Energy? Is it not Magic?" questioned Clark since Kryptonite and Magic are the only known things that can injure him.

"Incorrect" answered Fate. "While the closest energy source I can compare it to _is_ Magic, it's something different altogether. "

"What do you mean?"

Doctor Fate disperses the projection. "I'm saying that whatever energy is contained in the metal of the black rod, it's thicker than magical energy. It contains the same properties as Magic but there are also physical aspects which I'm still trying to get around."

Silence permeates the room as Superman and Wonder Woman think about the consequences of an unknown power that can injure Kryptonians. It's Diana who interrupts the silence. "What of the ring which we found on Mammoth?"

Doctor Fate shakes his head. "I've been so concentrated on the rod that I've had little time on studying it. Oliver has it while he's keeping watch of the prisoner. Once I get a look at it, I might just be able to figure out how they are used to teleport and with a bit of work, rewire it to teleport ourselves to their hideout."

 **xXx**

In the space station which makes up the headquarters for the Justice League, Mammoth can be found in one of the most secured rooms in the tower.

The room is large and cylinder in shape with a lot of space but only a small platform in the middle of the room acts as any floor support. Around the platform is just empty space with no means of escape unless someone activates the ramp from the control room. All around the walls of the wide, cylinder room are dozens of cameras which are all locked onto Mammoth from different angles. On a higher level, there's a wide window which allows ones to look down at the prisoner from the control room.

The prisoner is currently strapped into a diagonal table with his arms and legs spread out and cuffed into the metal table. Not only that but there are two needles at both sides of his neck, ready to pierce his skin and inject him with a neutralizing toxin if he gets a bit too active. From witnessing his fight with Bane, Batman has made sure to supply the needles with enough toxin to knock out a dozen elephants.

Mammoth isn't alone on the platform either because for the last hour, the Question has been interrogating him with no actual results. From playing good cop, bad cop with himself to offering the Metahuman a deal. Knowing better, Mammoth has yet to sing about any information on the Akatsuki. Instead, he is looking down at the faceless hero with an ever-growing smirk on his face.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, right now" ordered Question, punching Mammoth across the jaw. All it did was hurt his face and make Mammoth's smirk grow even bigger, seeing as the punch did no harm at all. It didn't even make his face budge.

Mammoth from a year ago would have sang like a canary if he found himself under the watch of the Justice League. Back then, he was nothing more but a thug doing small time crimes for petty cash.

But now, he is apart of something much bigger than himself or H.I.V.E . It's even bigger than the Justice League! Having witnessed Sage's power first hand and having been granted a mere percent of his power, Mammoth understands that Sage is the man who will change the world, forcefully if he has to.

For the better or worst, he isn't sure but for now, he's going along with the ride to see where he ends up. That and the pay is so much better than anything he got from working for H.I.V.E .

There's also the important fact about loyalty in the Akatsuki, hence why he won't even think about giving out any information on Sage. While he isn't the smartest person out there, he can understand subtle hints here and there and Sage has been throwing them around for the past year. Hints which claim that if any should betray him or give out any important information on the Akatsuki, he will _personally_ deal with the perpetrator. And he said it all with a smile!

Besides, he's scary in a oddly calm and quiet way.

Reminds him an awful like Slade.

"Want to get outta there, Q?" Green Arrow's voice speaks out of the speakers in the room. He has been monitoring Question's progress for the last hour and it doesn't take a genius to see that his interrogation methods aren't working. It's a first but Oliver can't be too surprised, seeing as the person he's interrogating is over twice his size, made of pure muscle and has gone toe-to-toe with Bane of all people. Question's punches probably just tickle him at this point.

Sitting on the control console beside Green Arrow is Mammoth's Akatsuki ring, laying there for Doctor Fate to retrieve later. While paying attention to the prisoner, the archer doesn't notice the ring glow a light shade of blue.

"Not yet. I got him where I want him" told Question, believing in his own words. Mammoth on the other hands looks down at the hero with skepticism all over his face. Question notices and punches him in the stomach, causing the Metahuman to laugh.

Oliver shakes his head from within the control room. He turns when he hears the door open and sees Batman and Martian Manhunter with two completely opposite expressions on their face. Batman with his usual stoic and calm endeavor while J'onn looks conflicted. He can make a good guess on why that is. Forcefully reading somebody's mind without their permission is technically a form of rape and J'onn is the unlucky soul who has to do it.

"You know what to do" said Batman, moving beside Green Arrow so he can watch the proceedings take place.

J'onn doesn't answer, simply looking at the wall before nodding and phasing through the floor.

When the Martian Manhunter leaves, Green Arrow folds his arms and looks at the Dark Knight. "You know, there's a word out there called please. Try it sometime."

Batman ignores him.

 **xXx**

Mammoth laughs when Question shakes his hand to ease the pain from punching him in the stomach. However, his enjoyment on the matter soon vanishes when he notices a green-skinned man in a blue cape float down to the platform from the control room. A sinking feeling grows in his stomach when he realizes that it's the Martian Manhunter, seeing as the green skin and blue cape are the obvious signs for the alien. Starting to struggle in his binds, he feels the prickling of the needles in his neck and stops his struggling, although, he grits his teeth as he sees the Martian takes a few steps closer.

"I warmed him up for ya" said Question, shaking his probably broken fist and taking a few steps back.

Martian doesn't reply, simply taking a step forward to the clearly uncomfortable Metahuman. "I apologize for what I'm about to do." Raising his hands, he places them on Mammoth's temples and closes his eyes so he can concentrate.

Mammoth roars as he feels his mind be forced open and read without his consent.

 **xXx**

"God I can't watch" muttered Green Arrow as he turns around, feeling a great discomfort in what they're doing.

Batman remains, watching the scene play out with his usual blank and uncaring expression. However, he turns his head to the left when he sees the ring glow a bright blue light. _"What is that?"_

Before he can think more about it, a rip in the dimension opens up behind Batman and Green Arrow with the archer seeing it first since he's facing the direction of it. Batman spins around with a batarang on hand and Green Arrow already has an arrow pulled back.

Who steps out isn't who either of the Heroes expect.

"Luthor?" exclaimed Green Arrow with surprise all over his face.

Batman is the same since he quite recently remembers the billionaire's death on television by the hands of his former apprentice, Jason Todd. It takes a few seconds for the Dark Knight to shake himself out of his stupor to recognize the differences of Lex Luthor.

The businessman is still in the suit he died in, although it has been restored to perfect order. The major differences about him are the three black piercings in the bridge of the man's nose and the two in his ears. The second big change are his eyes which are now purple with rings surrounding the pupil.

Lex and the two vigilantes stare at each other in a moment of awkward tension, neither side deciding to speak as one side is still contemplating the situation and the other is allowing them.

Finally, it's the revived Lex who speaks. "Gentlemen." He raises his right hand at the pair and to the surprise of the Heroes, his hand collapses on itself to show a hollow metal arm. "Please get out of my way" he said in a odd monotone voice that is only matched with the blank expression on his face. The gap in Luthor's metal arm glows a bright blue light, signifying the worse for the Heroes.

 **xXx**

Martian Manhunter has just gotten through the memories of Mammoth and his sister being thrown out of their home by their own parents, due to their fear of their childrens powers. He would have looked through more if it isn't for the explosion behind him, breaking his concentration. A loud alarm starts blaring in everyone's ears, making sure that everyone in the Watch Tower hears it.

Mammoth uses this time to take a breather from feeling some serious mental exhaustion over his mind getting forced open.

Turning around, J'onn looks to see a large hole in where the control room use to be situated. He also sees a 'supposed' dead man staring down at him from the hole with those odd purple eyes.

"Luthor."

Said man shakes his head, his blank expression never changing. "Didn't you see the announcement? Luthor is no more. Just testing his body for a joyride and I got to say..." A hole opens up in his back and a jet pack appears in its place. "I'm enjoying it." The jetpack springs to life and shoots flames, allowing Luthor to fly towards the platform at high speeds.

Martian Manhunter flies up to clash against the 'supposed' dead man. A swing of his fist throws Luthor to the side and into the wall but immediately, Luthor jumps off and collides with the Martian into the wall on the other side of the room. J'onn gasps out at the feeling of Luthor's metallic fists pressing against his chest while his back is against the metal wall.

Luthor uses the jetpack to fly off him and aims a hand at him. The arm stretches out with metallic gaps between the skin of his arm and his hand grasps the Martian by the face. J'onn grabs onto the metallic limb but Luthor throws his arm upwards, forcing the Martian to skid upwards through the wall of metal and circuitry. Giving the Martian Manhunter no time to recover, he swings his hand downwards and with it, J'onn. The Martian flies past the platform in a blur and disappears into the darkness below. With the threat gone for now, Luthor slowly glides down to said platform.

When he lands, Question charges at the undead man and lands several punches across Luthor's face, each having no effect on Luthor, other then tilting his head to the sides. Question notices the lack of effect his punches are doing as Luthor stares at him, blankly without so much as a cut in his lips.

Luthor grabs the Question by his skull and slams it down against the platform with enough strength to dent the metal floor but not enough to kill him. Standing up and stepping over the unconscious man, Luthor looks up at the Metahuman who looks a tad confused.

"The Justice League don't seem to treat their prisoners well. What a shame. I had a good opinion of them" said Luthor, eying the restraints on the Metahuman.

Mammoth blinks as he is still feeling the effects of the Martian Manhunter invading his mind. "Sage?"

"If you want to get technical" remarked Luthor as he stretches out his right finger. The tip opens up and he aims the finger at Mammoth's right arm restraint, carefully. A red laser shoots out of the finger and starts cutting through the metal. After a few moments, the restraint is completely cut off, allowing Luthor to start cutting through the one on his right foot while Mammoth uses his now free arm to break his left arm out of its own restraint. Mammoth grabs the syringes in his neck and throws them away, happy to be rid of them.

"I think it's about time we return" said Naruto from Luthor's body, having sensed incoming Heroes from all over the tower.

"Gladly" replied Mammoth before he lands on his knee and grasps his head.

"Are you alright?" asked Luthor with concern in his tone.

Mammoth shakes his head to rid of the headache that's pulsing in his skull. "I'm fine. Just a headache."

Luthor frowns but nods. With a wave of his hand, Luthor opens a portal to Naruto'a dimension and Mammoth walks in with Luthor following behind.

In the hole overlooking the platform, Batman stumbles his way to the edge and sees the pair leave through the portal. Bruce aims his left gauntlet at Luthor and fires a miniature tracking chip at him.

Unfortunately, Luthor's hand blurs and he looks up at the Dark Knight with a blank expression while holding onto the miniature tracking chip. Crushing it between his fingers, Luthor walks through the portal and closes it behind him.

Bruce grits his teeth as he falls to his knees. "Damn it!" he sweared while punching the floor.

"Well... you don't see that everyday" said Green Arrow from his position of sitting against the wall. Himself and Bruce we just about able to jump tot he sides to avoid Luthor's blast but the force still forced them to hit into the wall. Even now, he can feel his back which is aching.

 _"There has been a breach in the lab!"_

"Ugh, what next?" groaned Green Arrow, watching as Batman gets up and limp out of the destroyed room. Makes sense since the lab isn't too far from they are. Shrugging, he gets up himself and follows the Dark Knight.

 **( Watch Tower - Lab )**

Ignoring the two unconscious Heroes lying in the floor, the lone figure walks up to the side of the lab and picks up the black rod he has been after. Before he can leave, the door opens to show Batman and Green Arrow limping in.

What they see catches both men off guard.

Standing in the lab of the Watch Tower is none other than the Joker, living and breathing with the same sick grin on his face. Although, he has followed Luthor's example and has replaced his usual mad eyes with a pair of those odd purple ones with rings in them. As well as that, he is adorning a set of black piercings all over his face.

"Joker" stated Batman, pulling out a pair of batarangs in each hand.

"Wrong. Try again" remarked Joker with a sense of calm that doesn't match up with his smiling expression.

Batman doesn't reply and throws his weapons at the Joker. With skill that Bruce doesn't remember him having, Joker uses the Chakra Rod to deflect the batarangs with ease. Just like with Luthor, a portal opens up behind him and causes the pair to panic over the chance of losing the Joker.

Before any can charge, a bolt of lightning passes overhead the pair and towards the back of the Joker. Said reincarnated Joker turns around with his hand out and to the shock of everyone in the room, the lightning gets absorbed into his hand.

When the lightning disperses, Joker acknowledges the new arrival. "Zatanna Zatara. It's a pleasure."

Said Magician glares at the Joker with narrowed eyes. "Who are you?"

If it's somehow possible, everyone swears that Joker's wide grin only got wider. "What do you mean? I'm sure you recognize me?"

"You're not Joker. It's his body but you're just controlling his body with Magic or rather..." Zatanna uses her Magic to sense the walking corpse even deeper. "Something similar to Magic. I can sense it all over the body. That and the fact that he couldn't absorb Spells the last time I checked."

"The changes are obvious, aren't they?" he said, looking down at himself like as if the purple suit is the problem. "No matter. I was just checking the capabilities of this technique and I'm quite impressed with the results."

"You still didn't answer my question" told Zatanna with a glare.

Joker shrugs. "You're right. I didn't." With a step back, Joker walks into the portal and as it closes, he waves his hand to the trio of Heroes.

Silence fills the lab as Green Arrow, Batman and Zatanna stare at the empty space in which the now controlled corpse of the Joker once stood. Surprisingly, it's Oliver who disturbs the silence with a solemn tone in his voice.

"This is much worst than we thought."

 **( Star City )**

In the hideout of a notorious pair of criminals, the door slams open and swings to the wall as Mick Rory and Leonard Snart walk in with a knapsack over their shoulders.

"I told you we should have taken Brook Street!" yelled Mick as he throws the knapsack onto the scratched up table. The contents of the sack spills to show that it's full of jewelry, courtesy of the Jewellery store he recently robbed.

Leonard sighs as he closes the door behind him. "And I keep telling you, if we did that then we wouldn't be here. We'd be getting ourselves comfy in a prison cell since a police department is in the same direction!"

Mick shrugs, losing his interest of the conversation very quickly. "Whatever, I need a beer" he said, heading towards the fridge.

Leonard sighs and drops his own sack onto the table. His partner can be so stubborn at times. At least they're not in Central City anymore. That's an upside. He'd prefer facing a guy in a green hoodie with a bow and arrow than one who can run faster than he can shoot.

Leonard heads over to their cut-up couch to hopefully read something interesting in one of the magazines he got but stops when he notices something amiss. The pile of magazines he has by the foot of the couch has been toppled over. Now, most people wouldn't see that as a problem since Leonard isn't one to pile the magazines neatly and along with the help of gravity, it's an excellent conclusion for the fated mystery.

However, being in his line of work, one must have sharp eyes, a sharp mind and a sharper sense of paranoia. With those three factors, he pulls out his Freeze Gun and calmly eyes the messy hideout. "Mick."

"I know" replied Mick while chugging down a beer. He had noticed something was wrong the moment he found out that his six pack of beers in the fridge is now a simple four pack. He walks to his partner's side and throws the empty bottle over his shoulder while keeping his finger on the trigger of his Heat Gun.

"You can come out now. We know you're here" called out Snart with his Freeze Gun out and ready. Seeing as he and Mick didn't notice a single disguised police officer or vehicle in the area, he doubts that it's the police. They would have stormed their hideout the moment they arrived. Whoever is in the building with them, they have a different agenda. It's because of this fact that he won't straight out kill them.

Doesn't mean that he won't turn them into popsicles the moment something goes wrong.

"Boo~, and here I thought we could surprise you" muttered Harley as she walks around a wardrobe with her hammer over her shoulder.

Mick ignores the infamously dangerous Villain and looks over to the right where he can see a door slightly cracked open. He is ninety-five percent sure that door was closed before they left. "And you, behind the door. Get out here."

The door to the other room opens to show a nonchalant Red Hood with his hands in his jacket pockets. "Not bad. You guys got sharp eyes."

Snart smirks. "In our profession, it's mandatory."

"So which one of you owes me two beers?" asked Mick, glancing over to the insane woman with the hammer and the vigilante in the red mask. Neither thieves seem too effected over the dangerous occupants in their hideout.

"That would be me. They were crap by the way. Although, I think I have a better offer for the two of you which will make up for the beer" replied Red Hood who pulls a seat from the nearby table and sits on it while placing his feet on the table, making himself quite a home.

Snart doesn't look too amused by the former Boy Wonder. "If it's about that little band of rogues you advertised on TV, count me out. That's too much heat for us and we don't need that" he said, leaning against a drawer with his arms folded. The Freeze Gun remains in his hand, showing the two Akatsuki members that he still sees them as a threat.

"Although, too much heat isn't such a bad thing nowadays" said Mick while he leans against a workbench. Snart shakes his head to his partners constant love for innuendoes about anything relatable to fire.

"At least you guys know why we're here" shrugged Red Hood while balancing the back legs of his chair.

"You won't know what you're missing out on~" sang Harley with a cheshire grin.

Snart smirks towards the former partner of the Joker. "Still, we'll pass."

Red Hood shrugs his shoulders. "Oh well. Can't say that we didn't try" he said, getting up and stretching his spine. The vigilante walks towards the door with Harley following him but not before bumping her hip into Mick, earning a glare from the pyromaniac while she smirks back at him.

Red Hood grabs the door handle but before he leaves, turns to address the two thieves. "I only got one question to ask before I head off. Why did you two become thieves?"

Without missing a beat, it's Mick who replies back. "Because we hate working and we love money" he said in his deep, almost threatening voice.

Jason smirks underneath his mask. "If it's money you want, Akatsuki can offer plenty of that." This catches the thieves attention as Mick glances over at their direction while Snart looks over his shoulder to stare at the Akatsuki members.

Money has always been the drug that thieves are addicted to and the two in the room are now different.

"How much money are we talking about?" asked Snart, doing his best to keep his voice neutral. He can't have them know he's too interested or the game will side over to them.

"Enough to set you up for ten lives."

Snart and Mick share a look and to Jason and Harley, it seems like they are somehow communicating with each other, mentally. Snart pushes himself off of the drawer and turns around. "I guess we can... check you guys out. We're not making any promises."

Red Hood nods. "That's all we're asking."

 **( Naruto's Dimension )**

Naruto sighs in content as he rests in his usual spot in his personal dimension. Recent events has left him feeling a bit tired and the gentle stream of the river and the cool touch of the grass helps to relax his stressed mind.

Controlling two bodies at the same time is quite an odd experience, even for him. To look through two different set of eyes and to hear what they hear can get annoying overtime but he's positive that it will go away, eventually. After all, if his memory is correct, he once battled a man who can control all Six Paths of Pain at the same time, with great efficiency if he might add.

Who would he be if he didn't match that?

"The Six Paths of Pain is quite a useful technique" said Naruto as a portal opens behind him and the Joker walks through it with his Chakra Rod on hand. Out of all his Six Paths of Pain, it's the Joker who has given him to most difficulty. He has full control over the corpse, true but for some reason that he can't fathom, he can't control the man's facial muscles which are now locked in a permanent grin. Creepy but for now, there's nothing he can do about it.

He wills the walking corpse to drop the Chakra Rod into his own hand before he summons the King of Hell to devour it. No point having the corpse around, only to freak everyone out with its mad grin.

Naruto turns to look over at the distance where he can see Mammoth and Gizmo talking away with one another. From his body language, it's obvious to see that the genius is too embarrassed and proud to admit that he was worried about his friend. Of course, Mammoth has years of experience with knowing Gizmo and so, he brings in the small genius into a hug when he figures out what he wants to actually say. Naruto chuckles at the sight of the giant Metahuman almost crushing his friend in a hug. Quite heartwarming if someone asks him.

Naruto turns back so he doesn't disturb the little moment they're having. While they lack experience, unlike everyone else, they have a strong and loyal friendship which Naruto can respect. He can understand that the betrayel of Jinx must have hurt them deeply, seeing as she was with the pair from the very beginning. After they have spent years cultivating a friendship, Jinx happily spat on that and betrayed them with a smile.

He knows this because he has witnessed the battle between the Brotherhood of Evil and Titans. With everyone fighting each other, nobody once questioned the few flies and ants with Rinnegan eyes, harmlessly watching the battles. From the start where Beast Boy led the remaining forces of the Titans against the overwhelming numbers of Villains to the end which Brain was defeated, he saw it all. Including Jinx and Kid Flash arriving late and Jinx happily betraying her own allies.

While they may try to hide it, Naruto can see how deeply her betrayel hurt but can do nothing for them. All he can do is wait for them to handle the pain themselves. The upside is that the betrayel has improved Mammoth's and Gizmo's own friendship even more. After all, they are all they've got left.

The thought of Jinx brings another flash of memories, causing him to wince to the pain of a headache. He sees the same man who helped him defeat the Godlike threat from his own time although, he also sees moments where they are fighting each other. He can see destruction, lightning, flames, Bijū and their Avatars clashing. In these memories, a name comes to surface. "Sasuke..." For some reason, speaking his name leaves a very bad taste in his mouth.

Before he can think more about the recent memories, another portal opens up and out it walks Red Hood, Harley Quinn and he's hopeful two new recruits who are gazing around the new landscape in interest. Red Hood guides the pair to Sage while Harley runs off to greet her hyenas who look happy to see their owner again.

"I'll admit, this is a cool~ hangout" remarked Snart as he looks around the cavern and its natural beauty. "Where are we?"

"Who knows? I still haven't figured it out and I gave up after the third try" shrugged Red Hood as he leads the pair to Sage. Snart raises a brow from the response but doesn't say anything about it.

Unlike his partner who can't appreciate the beauty of the world, Mick grunts and meets his eyes with the blue ones of Naruto. "Who the hell is he?"

Red Hood walks past Mick. "Our boss."

"Boss? I thought you were the boss?" said Mick, feeling unsure about the whole matter.

Snart smirks as he looks Sage up and down before looking at the back of Red Hood. "He's the scapegoat."

Red Hood looks over his shoulder and lightly glares at the smirking thief. "Watch it" he warned but his warning only seems to make Snart's smirk grow.

Naruto gets up from his spot and turns to face the incoming group. "Welcome. I hope Jason and Harley have been polite."

"He stole my beers."

"Forget your beers. They tasted like piss anyway. I couldn't even finish the second one so I threw it out."

Mick glares at the masked vigilante and his hand twitches to grab his Heat Gun. Red Hood feels the same as his own itchy trigger finger twitches to pull out one of his pistols. Naruto hides his annoyance under a calm and welcoming expression.

"Mick, clam down" ordered Snart, sending a glare towards his partner. "We're guests here. Besides, I want to hear this proposal. Something about money that can last us ten lives, wasn't it?"

Naruto nods while easily recognizing Snart/Captain Cold as the smart one between the two. Mick may have the muscle but Snart possesses the brains and enough brain can always defeat brawn.

"As you can tell, I am looking for potential recruits for the Akatsuki and I believe your skills may prove useful for the organization."

"And of we refused to join?" asked Snart.

If Sage didn't like his response, he doesn't show it. "Then I'll simply erase your memories of this meeting and drop you off without a scratch. You wouldn't even know we had this conservation in the first place."

"Erase our memories? You can do that?" Snart asked with a hint of caution. Even Red Hood and Harley are caught off guard with the knowledge of such abilities. Over their year of training, they've witnessed several of Sage's abilities but with his mentioning of manipulating memories, they are starting to realise that they might not be close to seeing the peak of their leader's power.

"I don't like that people in my head. Touch my head and you'll fry" threatened Mick before he grasps his Heat Gun. Red Hood reaches for his twin pistols as Harley strokes the fur of her two growling hyenas with a smirk.

Naruto raises a brow at Mick's behaviour. "If you accept my offer on joining the Akatsuki, I won't need a reason to be in your head."

Snart steps forward to address Sage and to keep his partner from doing something he might regret. While Mick might not see it, Snart can tell from a glance that this guy is dangerous. The first thing he noticed off about the Sage character was how he did not once make a sound when walking on the field of grass on his bare feet. A trick that only the most skilled of assassins learn, meaning that the man in front of him has gone through some serious training and has most likely killed.

There's also Harley and Red Hood to think about as the pair aren't the... easiest to handle. If he can order around the lone wolf and former girlfriend of the Joker, then he must have some serious skills. "We haven't decided yet. I want to hear about our payment."

Naruto smiles and activates his Rinne-Sharingan. "Of course." With those words, he and the pair of thieves vanish from the dimension.

Harley looks over at Red Hood while rubbing her babies. "You think they're gonna join up?"

Jason puts his hands in his pockets and walks away. "Do you have to ask?"

Harley shrugs. "Guess not." Harley laughs as her babies start licking her face. "That's right! We have new toys to play with."

 **( New York - North Salem )**

In the middle of the night, darkness looms over the town of North Salem and fills the air with a cold wind that bites into the skin. While many would be safe and warm inside their homes, the same thing cannot be said to several Mutants who are spread out all over the town. "Kurt!" Scott called out in the streets of North Salem. He tightens the scarf around his neck to help with the losing fight against the cold.

The reason for Cyclops walking throughout the streets in the middle of the night is because Kurt or rather, Nightcrawler has yet to return to Xavier Mansion after a trip to the town. While this wouldn't usually be a problem as the blue-skinned Mutant can simply teleport into the manor in a second, he has never stayed out this late before. Their worries only got worse when he none of their calls can reach him.

Walking down the pavement and ignoring the flickering light of the lamp post, he looks around for any sign of his friend. While searching, he never once notices the shadow on the rooftop, looming overhead, nor the sound of a trench coat flapping in the wind until said shadow jumps off the rooftop and towards Scott. Scott spins around in the last second but it's too late as the predator has got him where he wants him.

 **( Five Minutes Later )**

"Scott, have you found him yet?" Kitty as she walks around the corner, looking for her partner who moved on ahead. The Mutant looks around for her friend but doesn't see him. Instead, she notices a glint under the light of a lamp post. Walking under the light, she picks up the source of the glint and brings it eye level.

"Scott?" she whispered as she holds up his sunglasses.

 **( Naruto's Dimension )**

Naruto hums to himself as he scans the floating orbs in front of himself, watching events take place from all over the planet. However, Naruto is paying more attention to a certain orb which is showing him a life feed of events taking place in New Mexico. For the past half hour, he has been watching the events taking place between S.H.I.E.L.D., a giant suit of armour and supposedly, Gods. Not too long ago, the supposed 'God of Thunder' and his friends left in a beaming pillar of light so all he's really watching is the aftermath of the battle as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents start to clean up the damage from the battle.

With a flick of the wrist, the orbs vanish so Naruto can go back to his thoughts, more so on his latest pair of recruits. It only took a quick glance of the mountains of gold for Leonard Snart and Mick Rory to accept his invitation to join the Akatsuki. While their agreement to join is solely based on their greed, it will have to do for now. Their loyalty isn't permenant but there is always ways to change that, either through sentiment like with Poison Ivy or through intimidation, just like what he did to Deadshot.

For now, he needs to find at least one more member to complete the Akatsuki to even the numbers. One who can hold their own in a fight, without the need of a teammate. With Ghost Rider on his own, it leaves an odd number to be filled by somebody. However, that leaves only a few potential candidants with such skill and potential. There would be more if it isn't for their... 'questionable' activities.

Before he can decide on who to choose, his eyes widen in surprise when he feels a disturbance in the dimension. He can sense something powerful, forcefully ripping open space itself and before Naruto can use his Chakra to close it, it's already too late as the dimensional portal opens. What's worse is that the portal just so happens to be a few feet behind him.

Naruto stands and turns around to see a hole rip open with shadows and stars decorating the inside of it like moving wallpaper. Before he can forcefully close it, something falls out of the hole and crashes into the floor, throwing dirt, dust and rubble in all directions and forcing Naruto to cover his face with his arm to not get any in his eyes. When the dirt, dust and rubble subsides, Naruto looks to see the dimensional portal gone and a crater underneath where it use to be.

And in that crater is a man that Naruto, while he hasn't met him before, recognizes to be quite handsome. His attire is albeit, strange as it consists of a dark shirt and pants underneath a gold chest plate, braces, shoulder guards and even gold armour covering only his knees. Sprayed out underneath the unconscious man is a green cape that looks to be made from the finest silk, ruined by the cuts and dirt decorating it.

While the attire is strange, Naruto's attention is mostly fixed on the overwhelming power within the man. A power that he recognizes to be more powerful than Ghost Rider. If there's a word for him to describe it, it would be "World Shattering". In other words, he recognizes the man as a danger to the planet and everyone living in it.

"Father..."

With his sharp ears, Naruto easily hears the unconscious man's whisper and notices the desperation in his tone of voice. Pain, anger and sadness, all in the shape of one whisper. The whisper causes Naruto to tense up as he easily recognizes the tone as familiar.

If his memories are correct, he once used it all the time as a child. Flashes of his childhood flash before his eyes, showing images of people glaring at him, spitting out curses of hatred and throwing garbage at him. He sees himself getting thrown out of buildings, getting bullied and pushed around by other children and sometimes, attacked by mobs that left him beaten and broken.

Yet, no matter how much he cried and begged, they would all glare at him like as if he's a parasite. All because of the decision made by someone else when he was just born a few minutes into the world.

As he thinks about what to do next, a golden horned helmet rolls down the hill of the crater and rests beside its owner, shining with the rays of the sun from the hole above the cavern.

 **xXx**

 **Akatsuki Members: Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Red Hood, Poison Ivy, Mammoth, Gizmo, Ghost Rider, Captain Cold, Heatwave, ?**

Page 17 of 17


	8. In the Shadows

**Enjoy.**

 **xXx**

 **( Gotham City - Actors Guild HQ )**

"I FUCKING HATE THIS!"

"Just shut up and keep running!"

"EASY FOR YOU TO SAY" yelled Heatwave as he runs just barely behind his partner, Captain Cold as they run from their 'supposed' target.

Said target is chasing them through the thirty-first floor of the building, plowing through everything that gets in his way. It's a bit difficult to get in the way of a wave of clay that intends to kill the two thieves.

 **"I'll kill you both!"** roared Clayface, his melted face appearing in the wave of liquid for a brief second before melting back into the tidal wave of clay.

Mick, finding that as a challenge, turns for a moment and shoots a stream of fire at the incoming clay. While most attacks would be ineffective against Clayface's body, Naruto chose the pair of thieves to handle Clayface for a reason and that reason is their elemental weaponry.

Basil Karlo/Clayface roars in pain as the flames from Mick's Heat Gun washes over his body of clay and hardens the substance, stopping the Villain in its tracks while it suffers.

Before Mick can gloat, Snart pulls him by his shoulder and into an open elevator. "Come on! That won't stop him for long" said Snart as he closes the elevator door with the last thing he sees being Clayface breaking apart the hardened pieces of its body and returning them back to normal.

The next minute is spent with the pair of thieves quietly listening to the elevator music as it travels down several floors. Mick even starts tapping his foot, lacking the patience for the quiet elevator ride.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Got a mint?"

Snart checks the pockets of his blue winter coat and withdraws a half open pack of mints. He hands one over to Mick who mouths off a thanks as he eats away on the small sweet. "Cheers. Needed that."

Their quiet atmosphere so happens to be ruined when something heavy falls on top of the elevator, causing it to shake from the sudden excess weight. From the bit of clay dripping onto their coats and the floor, it's obvious to them on who's up there.

"Looks like this is our stop" told Snart as he presses the stop button and the button to open the doors. Mick spends his time shooting some flames over their heads and incinerating the few bits of clay which is leaking from the ceiling. The doors open, showing that the elevator has stopped halfway down a floor, leaving a tiny gap for the pair to crawl through.

Snart goes first with Mick following shortly and just in time as the moment the flames stopped burning, a heavy load of clay smashes through the ceiling, the force causing the elevator to lower itself and strain under the weight of Clayface.

Captain Cold and Heatwave take a few steps back as Clayface forms his body in the elevator, his melting face, smirking down at them with glee.

"Got a plan?" Mick asked, feeling sweat drip off his brow and it's not from the heat of his gun.

Snart bites his lips for a moment but stops when the elevator shakes and lowers slightly to reveal the connecting cables. "In fact, I do. Keep him in the elevator."

Mick does as he's told and fires upon Clayface as he takes a step out of the elevator. The walking body of clay screams as the fire hardens its chest, forcing him to take a step back into the elevator.

Captain Cold raises his Cold Gun but instead of shooting at Clayface, he shoots at the cable holding the elevator. The moment the blue energy hits its target, the wires instantly freeze and quickly break apart under Clayface's heavy weight. The elevator immediately collapses, taking the living body of clay with it as it travels down over twenty floors.

Captain Cold and Heatwave looks down the elevator shaft and flinch when they hear the elevator crashing at the bottom floor and the inhumanely, painful scream from Clayface. "You think that did it in?" Mick asked.

Snart takes a step back and hoists up his Cold Gun. "Only one way to find out." He flicks his head towards the direction of the stairs. "Stairs?"

"I was afraid you were going to say that."

The pair turn towards the direction of the staircase, only to freeze when they see what looks to be over two dozen employees staring at them. Awkward silence fills the room as the thieves and employees state at each other.

It's Mick who ruins the silence. "Evening." With that said, he heads towards the stairs with Snart following. Nobody did try to stop them, neither having the bravery nor stupidity to even try.

Over twenty floors later, Mick and Snart push through the crowd that has gathered around the elevator door which has bent from the force of the landing.

A security guard walks towards the pair of thieves with one hand up and the other on his pepper spray. "Stay where you a-" He doesn't get to finish since Mick swings his Heat Gun across the man's face, failing to knock him out but doing enough damage to break his nose.

Ignoring the guard's cries of agony, Mick lifts his gun to his face and raises a brow. "Odd. That usually works." The other security guard comes running at them with a baton on hand so Mick, casually hits him in the face with his gun, successfully knocking him out. "That's better."

The clear show of violence is enough to scare everyone to run away so they don't get caught in whatever crossfire which may happen. A few pick up their phones to call the police.

Leonard Snart walks over towards the elevator doors and grabs one side with both hands. "Get over here and help me."

Mick Rory grunts but follows the command as he holsters his gun and grabs the other end of the elevator doors. Grunting, the pair pull apart the weakened elevator doors and quickly pull out their own weapons, in case of any surprises. What they see is a destroyed elevator with a flattened Clayface who is groaning in pain as he slithers out of the door.

Mick looks up at Snart. "Want it?"

Snart shrugs, taking a step forward to the twitching pile of clay. "Why not. I feel like I've earned this today" he said, stopping just a foot away from Clayface. Without a single thought or any hesitation, he fires down on Clayface, ignoring the former actor's screams of pain as the Cold Gun does its job and freezes the Villain. After a few seconds, Snart pulls back the gun and looks down at the frozen remains of Clayface.

"This is the police! Come out with your hands up!"

Leonard smirks as he looks out of the windows to see a few police cruisers outside with police. "A bit late to the party, don't you think?"

Mick stomps onto Clayface's remains, smashing through the ice and permanently ending the Villain's life once and for all. "What you expect? They're pigs."

Snart chuckles and shrugs his shoulders. "I guess. Best head back and report in" he said before clicking his ring and vanishing. Mick grunts but copies him and vanishes from sight as well, just in time as the police soon come running in.

 **( Naruto's Dimension )**

Loki has been called many things throughout his long life as a God. He has been called weak, a menace, a fool and when Fandral is feeling _creative,_ a maiden. All of the insults connected by a thick trail of venom.

Weak has always been the main characteristic for Loki, no matter how much it aggravated him to no end to be called such. When one lives in Asgard, one must be strong and be able to wield a weapon. Loki does neither, lacking the strength and interest to fight like any other Asgardian. Compared to other races, he will always be stronger but as an Asgardian, he is more frail than others, especially compared to his bro-, Thor.

For those reasons, he has always earned himself the ire to the populace of Asgard, none too caring that he is a Prince of the realm. A day didn't go by unless he at least hears one insult thrown into his face, most likely coming from Frandral.

Quite hard for him to improve his reputation when he lacks the skills of a warrior to impress others. To solve that problem, he mastered the art of using knives, in order to gain some form of recognition for his skills. All he got was the disdain of others, finding his choice of weaponry laughable at best. Apparently, Asgardian should use swords, maces or warhammers, not tiny little knives.

Seeing how he will never match up to the other warriors of Asgard, he decided to prove his strength a different way.

After a bit of pleading, he learned the art of Sorcery from his mother, finding a lot of interest in the art. The ability to teleport anywhere he wants to forming illusions with his mind was too much for him to give up, even if the Magical Arts are nothing but a women's pastime in Asgard. Therefore, he was scoffed at even more by the populace for learning woman's art. Even the guards within the palace walls hold little to no respect for him, title as Prince of Asgard doing nothing to entice them.

For all the disdain, the cruel names and lack of respect he gains from others, he blames Thor. Thor might not even realise why but Loki simply can't stand the God of Thunder. Not when everyone seems to always point out his faults when they compare him to Asgard's _Golden Boy._

Thor is everything an Asgardian hopes to be. Strong, brave, handsome and charming.

Loki can't see why he is never thought of or praised in the same manner as Thor. He has fought in plenty of wars alongside Thor so why isn't he classed as brave? He has killed and survived in countless battles so why does nobody call him strong? While he doesn't possess Thor's muscles or blonde locks, he has made women swoon over him before but yet, nobody will ever admit that he is handsome. Loki will happily admit that he possesses the qualities which makes one charming but none will do so to his face so why?

Why is he treated like a hindrance than a Prince of Asgard?

It came to Loki one night. He had thought hard and long about the reasons and only one conclusion came to mind.

Thor.

As the firstborn of Odin, Thor was guaranteed the spot as King of Asgard when Odin drops the title. That fact brought the lies of Odin to his feet. The King once spoke to them as children, admitting that they will both be kings.

With only one throne?

With Thor being Odin's favourite son, his spot as King of Asgard was guaranteed. Loki didn't want that. He wanted to become King, to be recognized for his accomplishments and treated like a true king!

Only to find out that he isn't even Asgardian.

After Thor was sent to Midgard, Loki found out the truth of his true heritage. He admits that he finds it amusing that he, the God of Lies and Mischief was lied to his entire life and he never once saw through it.

Odin is not his father.

Frigga is not his mother.

Thor is not his brother.

So, he got angry. Angry enough to try and kill Thor and take the throne of Asgard, in the name of his adoptive father, Odin. It all failed with him and Thor clashing on the Bifrost Bridge and Thor destroying it. Both were gonna fall into the endless abyss until Odin caught them both.

Loki was overjoyed at first, thinking that he has finally proven his place in the eyes of his father. Until he said that one word that haunts him in his mind.

"No."

Slowly opening his eyes, Loki blinks in surprise when his foggy vision clears up to reveal a ceiling of rock with a source of light and water escaping through a hole in the ceiling.

 _"I'm alive?"_ he thought, wondering how he survived after letting himself fall into the Endless Abyss, a product made after the destruction of the Bifrost Bridge. Not even Gods are suppose to survive such an experience since it would suck up all the Magic and life of whoever falls in. It should have literally torn him apart, everything from his clothing to body cells. A sense of pride fills the God of Lies and Mischief when he realizes that he is now the very first being, God or not, to have survived in the Endless Abyss.

"I said no, Harley."

"Pretty please~, it'll work."

"He's unconscious, not in a coma."

"That doesn't matter! Have you never seen sleeping beauty!?"

Hearing some voices he doesn't recognize, the God tries to spring up into action to defend himself against the unknown. That is, until he cries out in pain when he discovers that it feels like all of the bones in his body is broken. While he may have survived the Endless Abyss, Loki hasn't been left unscathed.

 _"This is even worst than the time Thor hit me with Mjölnir"_ thought Loki, remembering the dreaded experience a couple centuries ago when Thor first got his hammer and was playing around with it. It ended with the God of Thunder accidentally hitting Loki across the face with the hammer, leaving him in the palace infirmary for over a month.

"Looks like sleeping beauty is finally awake. Too bad you won't be getting your kiss" Loki heard another male voice speak up and it's different from the first.

"Aww~" pouted Harley, missing her chance on kissing the cutie.

Naruto pats the insane woman on the head like a parent would do to a child. "There, there. Maybe next time."

Loki groans, turning his head enough to see the other occupants of wherever he is. The first one he notices to be the sole female, dressed in a tight, red and black shirt and pants, similar to a Jester's attire that hugs her figure like a second skin. Her skin is almost perfect with the only threat to it being the unbelievably paleness to it, although it provides an almost exotic feel to her. Her hair is as odd as the rest of the woman, being in an odd style which he has never seen before. It's almost like a ponytail that has been split in half so it faces off towards the left and right sides of her face. Even odder, the ends of the small ponytails are coloured differently than the blonde locks she possesses with one being coloured light blue and the other being pink.

The second person he notices is obviously a man from the tight black shirt he wears which shows off hard muscles that would be classed as average in Asgard. He also adorns a brown leather jacket and black pants, as well as a belt that is holding odd and small looking metal boxes. His eyes trial up to his face, although he can't see it since it is covered by a red mask. _"He's a warrior, through and through. I'll need to watch him."_

He last person he notices is definitely the most powerful, Loki can promise himself that. Other than the strange white robes and possessing white hair, he looks to be nothing too special. Loki can see past that, his senses instantly taking in the power this one man possesses. For a brief second, he almost thought that he was looking at Odin.

"Who are you?"

Naruto raises a brow. "I could ask you the same thing." Naruto walks around and sits down beside Loki's body to it is easier for the God to see. "You're in a bit of a predicament, I hope you realize that."

Loki does the moment he figures out that he isn't healing. Being a God, his body regenerates even against life-threatening injuries, Mjölnir's incident being an example. Even now, his body should have healed enough so he can at least stand but so far, his body remains broken and injured.

"You probably noticed that you're not healing. I noticed your regenerative abilities after a while so I took... precautions" said Naruto, his eyes glancing towards the left.

Loki follows his gaze and sees what looks to be black lines of paint on the grass floor. He also sees how the lines are designed in a way where he is lying in the centre of it all. "Your drawings are containing my Magic? Impossible!" exclaimed Loki through broken gasps. Hard for him to be commanding when his body remains broken.

Naruto shakes his head. "I've learned that nothing is impossible. We've got men in tights flying over our heads and people who run faster than the speed of light. Nothing is impossible." The Sage of Six Paths notices Loki's bewildered expression. "I apologize. I forget that you're not from around here."

"Where am I?" Loki demanded.

"Right now? You're in my personal dimension. Never gave it a name and probably won't" Naruto answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Now, answer my questions. How did you get here?"

Loki glares up at Naruto, showing clear distrust in his green eyes. "I hold no obligation to tell you anything."

Naruto shrugs again, clearly not caring. "You don't but until you do, I'm not releasing my restraints off you."

This got Loki to shut up and think. While he may be arrogant and a slight bit patronizing, he isn't stupid. In fact, he prides himself to be one of the smartest in Asgard, second only to Odin. Being in unknown territory with unknown people and his Magic subdued by another God, the God of Mischief and Lies can't think of a plan to get out of his current predicament. Usually, he would use his silver tongue to get his way out of trouble but the sharp and powerful eyes of the obvious God clearly states that it won't work on him.

With a reluctant sigh, Loki surrender, for now. "Have you heard of Asgard?"

 **( New York City - Financial District )**

 _"I am so late!"_ Jennifer Walters can't believe that she actually slept in, and on such an important case as well!

Checking her watch, she sighs, irritably when she reads that it's 11: 45, leaving her fifteen minutes to go down three blocks, head into the courtroom and talk to her client before the case starts. She bites back a curse when she misses her chance to cross the road, now having to wait until the traffic subsides. With it having rained last night, her day only gets worse when a car drives through a puddle beside the pavement and drenches the lawyer's blue skirt in muddy water.

Jennifer palms her face and holds back the want to cry.

 _"How can my day get anymore worse than this?"_ she inwardly cried, having lost the necessary energy to run, preferring to slowly drag herself across the street when the green light turns on.

As if the universe is against her, an explosion blows up in the S.T.A.R. Labs building that is down the road to her left, leaving a massive hole in the front of the building. The first sign of the explosion is the start of a mass panic, pedestrians running for their lives while a few drivers get out of their cars to run alongside them. Some for the more stupider drivers step on the throttle, driving down the roads to get away from whatever caused the explosion in the first place.

One of the drivers is unlucky since as they drive past the S.T.A.R. Labs building, a large figure jumps out of the hole and allows the car to crash into them. Like as if crashing into a brick wall, the car flattens upon impact, just barley staggering the man it just crashed into.

Having stopped in the middle of the road, Jennifer gasps when she recognizes the infamous Villain, Rhino as he lifts the destroyed car over his head. Without even looking, the Villain throws the vehicle away and it just so happen to roll towards herself. Failing to move her petrified body, Jennifer can only watch as the rolling pile of metal get closer and closer to herself, sealing her faith the closer it gets.

Imagine her surprise when the metal of death doesn't hit her but instead, hits the monster of a man who appears in front of her just in the nick of time. She blinks as she tilts her head up, just so she can see the giant of a man who just saved her.

Mammoth growls as he lifts the car and places it to the side, to further preserve what remains of the dead body inside it. He looks over his shoulder to see if the woman is alright and smiles when he sees that yes, she's safe.

"You better head off. I can't fight too well if there are bystanders around." He even pats the top of her head to knock some sense into her, nearly bringing the stunned lawyer to her knees from the strength used.

Nodding almost like an android, Jennifer finds the needed brain power to run away from the upcoming battle. She stops for a brief moment to look back at her hero. "Thank you." Mammoth clearly hears it and waves her off from over his shoulder, not even risking the chance to look away. However, he does smile over hearing the woman.

 _"I can almost see why Jinx joined the Titans"_ he thought, mournfully over his former friend and teammate before he clenches his muscles and glares at Rhino who seems to finally noticed him.

"Shit! Akatsuki!" cursed Rhino, turning tail and running, his feet making footprints in the tarmac as he does so.

Mammoth blinks, not having expected that reaction. Yes, Akatsuki have made some leeway among the public and criminal underground but he didn't think it was enough to actually scare a few Villains. Not yet, at least.

Still, feels pretty good.

His attention is brought forth to the large cylinder object that is tied to Rhino's back with chains. While Mammoth is definitely not the smartest of the bunch, he can do basic math. Seeing as Rhino has just run out of S.T.A.R. Labs with something that looks very expensive and important and is running away from him, he can figure out that something is definitely not right. So, with that in mind, he runs after the enhanced human.

Both giants appear as blurs as they run through the streets of New York, shaking the ground and lifting cars after each step. While Rhino may be fast, Mammoth is soon chasing up to him, hand out to grab onto the device attached to Rhino's back. Before he can touch it, a bolt of purple energy hits his hand, forcing him to pull it back and stop. He slams his feet into the tarmac to slow him down. Once he stops himself, the Metahuman jumps back to avoid another flurry of energy bolts.

Grabbing onto a nearby car as he runs down the road, he stops and spins with the car on hand. Noticing a shadow on a rooftop for a slight second, he stops his spin and throws the car towards it. The shadow moves and cuts through the car like as if it's made of butter and lands on top of another car, crushing it from their weight.

Now with Rhino gone and his new target in sight, Mammoth takes in her appearance to see if he can recognize her. He fails the recognize the young woman since he's pretty sure that he would remember someone who is dressed in a green, skin-tight bodysuit with pincers for hands and a giant scorpion tail. He isn't too sure if the scorpion's tail is real or not but he is sure he doesn't want to find out. "Gizmo, you getting this?"

"Of course I am! Who do you think I am, an amateur!?" yelled Gizmo from the communication device in Mammoth's ear. "Give me a second!" Literally a second later, Gizmo speaks up again. "Name's Elaine Coll but she goes by the name Scorpia. Dropped out of high school at sixteen, went on a killing spree, went on a robbing spree, yada, yada... mentally unstable. Well fuck!"

From the mad grin in the woman's eyes, Mammoth can agree on the mentally unstable part. Reminds him a lot of Harley, but that's not too surprising.

"Hello~, big boy. Rhino can't play at the moment but I~~ can. Want to play with a professional?" Scorpia asked with a wide grin, clipping her pincers while she's at it.

Mammoth growls, not liking the woman already. Something is going on and it's all centred around that device Rhino just ran out with.

Mammoth slams his fist into his palm and smirks, cracking his fingers. "Let's play."

 **( Naruto's Dimension )**

"Do Gods pray to another God? If you're a God, can you pray to yourself? Is there a Devil? Do more Devils exist? Are they really red? Do they have pointy horns? What's it like being older than my grandpa? You look good for your age. What's your secret?"

Red Hood chuckles as he watches Harley ask questions after questions about the 'supposed' God who has no time to answer and no way to escape from her. It's probably even more annoying that Harley is wearing his golden helmet and her annoying pet hyenas are chuckling away beside them. "You think his story checks out?" he asked, turning towards Sage.

Naruto takes a moment to answer, needing a bit to let the new information sink in. Personally, he has never been one to believe in Gods and still doesn't, no matter what this man says. However, it's too much of a coincidence that he claims to be named Loki, the God of Mischief and Lies. With the amount of power he holds, Naruto isn't to surprised that a few would claim him to be a God. Not only that but Loki explained that the King of Asgard, Odin, is said to be even more powerful, Loki explaining how his power is nowhere near to that of Odin.

Loki also explained to him about the Pantheons, meaning that there is even more versions of Gods with Loki and all of Asgard all belonging under the Norse Pantheon.

 _"So many with the power to wipe out the planet without a single thought"_ thought Naruto, turning to face Red Hood. "While I'm skeptical of these titles of Gods, he isn't lying."

"He's called the God of Lies for a reason" Red Hood, blankly pointed out.

Naruto ignores the former Robin and walks towards the injured God and Harley. "I hope you haven't been boring our guest with your questions, Harley."

Harley looks almost insulted. "Of course not! We're the best of buddies!"

"Kill... me..."

"He's just joking" laughed Harley, kicking Loki in the ribs, forcing the God to cough out the air in his lungs. "See!"

Naruto simply pats her head like one does to a child. "Good girl. I think Jason was asking for you."

"I know you're lying but ok!" sang Harley before running off towards Red Hold with her hyenas following close behind her.

When Harley gets out of listening distance, Naruto looks down at the injured God. "What do you think?"

Loki glares up at the Sage of Six Paths, clearly showing him what he thinks. "She's insane."

Naruto nods. "True."

Silence covers the pair for a few minutes until Naruto speaks up again. "I could kill you, you understand this, don't you?"

Loki hides his grimace under a stern but understanding expression, nodding to show he does. "I do."

"You endangered the lives of innocents, all for you petty jealousy over your brother. I have the obligation to end you."

Loki grips his knuckles, glaring up at Naruto. "Then do it. Kill me!"

Not giving him a thought, Naruto turns and walks away. "That isn't for me to decide."

"Then who's is it!?"

A portal opens nearby and the sound of an engine escapes through the dimensional doorway. Naruto tilts his head towards the portal. "It's his decision."

Loki turns his head to see what looks to be a moving skeleton, lifting its leg over a strange vehicle that is also on fire. Just like the other, he can sense some serious power within the moving skeleton. Whatever it is, it isn't anything he recognizes and he has read any and all books of creatures from the palace library. It glances towards Loki and starts stomping towards him, making the God of Mischief and Lies a tad nervous. With his body broken and his connection to his Magic sealed, he has no way to defend himself from the violent-looking skeleton.

Ghost Rider falls to its knees and holds itself over Loki, both arms spread beside the God's torso. It pushes its face close to Loki's, providing no comfort for the God as the heat warms his skin. If he wasn't a God, his skin would have burnt under the intense heat of Ghost Rider's flames.

However, the heat is nowhere near as uncomfortable as staring into the hollowed out eyes of the flaming skull, unseen eyes seemingly staring deep into his soul. For what feels like hours, Ghost Rider stares deep into Loki's soul, finding what darkness it can find within the God. After a while, it scoffs and shakes its head before standing up and walking away.

 **"Innocent."**

Loki releases the breath he doesn't realise he's holding in and takes in a few deep breathes for himself. Whatever just happened, he knows that something was just stolen from him but isn't sure what.

"Well, that's surprising." If Loki's body isn't broken, he would have jumped after hearing Naruto's voice from beside him, remembering that he has walked off earlier. He didn't even hear him appear.

Naruto looks down at the broken God and smiles, slightly. "You surprise me. Not many tend to get through Ghost Rider's test, God or not. He must see something good in you" Naruto stated before waving his hand over Loki. The Seals beneath the God of Lies and Mischief glow a bright blue before shattering away like glass, releasing Loki from what restraints they hold over him.

Once the restraints vanish, a golden light washes over Loki's body, starting the process of healing the God from all of his injuries. Broken bones mend into place and torn muscles fix themselves. Not a painless measure but it works nonetheless. Within the matter of minutes, Loki's body fully heals itself, allowing him to stand up onto his own two feet.

Closing his eyes, Loki takes in a deep breath, happy to move once again. Opening his emerald eyes, he looks into the Azure blue ones of the odd but powerful man in front of him. A thought to kill him does surface within his mind but he squashes that thought over a few seconds thinking about it. Whoever he is, his presence reminds Loki of Odin, a feat that not many can brag about. If one can remind himself of the Allfather, Loki admits that it isn't the smart thing to do by enforcing violence against someone he can't possibly win against.

"Am I allowed the courtesy of asking for a name?"

"Sage."

Loki raises a brow in interest. "Really?"

Naruto shrugs with a small grin. "It's what everyone else calls me. Nobody knows my name but myself, of course."

"That would indicate that you have something to hide. Your history perhaps?"

"Don't we all have something to hide?"

Loki chuckles, agreeing with the Sage's response. "True. Allow me to provide a small bit of advice. Hide it well. I know from experience that one's past mistakes will follow them, no matter how hard one tries to forget them. Hide them if you must but never forget. We learn from our mistakes so never forget them."

Naruto agrees that the man in front of him is much older than he looks. While he may look like he's in his early twenties, he holds the wisdom and experience of someone who has seen everything. "What are you going to do now? After all, Asgard will be searching for you after what you've done."

Loki laughs, although there's no humour in it. "I'll survive. When one goes through what I do, you tend to find a way."

"Then, how about joining me?"

Loki faces Sage, a serious expression on his face. "Come again?"

Naruto shrugs and waves his hand towards the strange flora in the cavern. "You have no plans to do anything with your life but you hold great power within you. Power that can be used to help others who lack it."

"You want me to provide charity, pity perhaps? Is that it?"

Naruto stares, sternly into Loki's eyes. "No, I want you to help yourself. To show all of Asgard that they are wrong about you. You told me your story, a prince unloved by the populace, shunned for his older brother. That doesn't have to be the end of your story. Merely a chapter in it so how about you make another?"

Loki glances around the cavern, purposely to avoid making eye contact with Sage. _"Show all of Asgard wrong?"_ He will admit that he likes the sound of that. To prove that their way isn't the only way to get strong, show them that he can be more than the Dark Prince or a Frost Giant. That he can be what Odin once told him he can be.

A King!

Before he can answer, Harley ruins the moment when making her own comment. "Is the cutie joining? He can bunk up with me!"

 **( New York City - Financial District )**

Mammoth groans as he backhands Scorpia into a Fire Station, noticing how the Villain laughs off the pain or rather, gets off on it.

"Is that all you got, big boy?" asked Scorpia while she walks out of the Fire Station through the broken door. "Cause if that's it than I guess Bane was a bigger push over than I thought. Come on, show me what you showed Bane! Show me that power you have! Show me! Show Me! Show Me!" she ranted, madness dancing across her eyes.

"How about I show you this, bitch!"

Scorpia blinks over hearing a new voice but screams when she feels electricity wash over her body, numbing her nerves in the process. Collapsing to her knees, Scorpia looks over her shoulder and widens her eyes when she sees a round-shaped robot, floating harmlessly in the air behind her, a small gun under it is also sparking with electricity.

"Haha! Bet you didn't see that coming, did ya?" mocked Gizmo through the speakers in his Eyebot.

Scorpia snarls at the robot and tries to move her body but finds it too numb. "What did you do to me!"

"Oh, not much. Just a few volts of good ol' fashioned electricity. Not enough to kill ya but enough to keep you down. You can't answer our questions if you're dead."

Mammoth stomps towards the Villain and reaches out to restrain her but before he can, a beam of energy hits the side of his face, forcing the Metahuman to cry out in pain and step back while holding his face. Starting to lose his temper, Mammoth glares towards the direction of the attack, only to see what looks to be a suit of armour in the sky, painted in hot rod colours.

"Step away from the oddly sexy scorpion and put your hands in the air. You're under arrest. Wow, so this is what it feels like to be on the other side of the window."

"OH MY FUCKING GOD, IRON MAN!" cried out Gizmo from his Eyebot, commanding it to float up to Iron Man's level and actually get into the billionaire's face. "I'M YOUR BIGGEST FAN! CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH!?"

"Uuhh" muttered Tony Stark, flying back a few feet to be at some sort of distance from the robot. "Sure?"

Slots open up by the sides of the Eyebot, showing a set of robotic clamps that brandish a poster and a pen in the other. "Can you make it out to Gizmo?"

Tony grabs the offered items and signs his name on the poster which is of him from what looks to be last year's weapon rally. "Sure thing, kid. Always happy to meet a fan."

"Its because of you that I got into engineering in the first place."

Tony laughs from within his suit. "At least I did something right. Pepper won't believe me when I tell her this."

 **"Sir, let me remind you that you are speaking to a fugitive of the law and are required under the orders of S.H.I.E.L.D. to bring them in at all costs"** spoke JARVIS, Tony's personal A.I. and his source of sound mind whenever Pepper isn't watching over him.

"And not let the kid meet his childhood hero? JARVIS, do you see me as a monster?"

 **"Of course not, sir."**

"Sweet~, this is going on the wall" said Gizmo as the Eyebot floats away and disappears using its cloaking system.

"Cloaking? Why didn't I think of that? JARVIS, put that on my to do list, will ya?"

 **"Already done, sir."**

"I don't know what I'd do without ya."

 **"Neither do I, sir."**

Mammoth rubs the bridge of his nose, feeling the cuts and brusies all over his body start to add up. The last thing he needs is to fight Iron Man of all people. He isn't even sure if he can unless he wants to use the Sage's power and even then, that would just cause reckless destruction. Scorpia took a lot out of him and he needs her.

"Well, wanna do this the hard way or the easy way?" asked Tony, floating lower until his feet touches the ground.

"You know my answer" growled Mammoth.

"True. Gotta give ya a choice or human resources will be on my ass" shrugged Tony before firing a particle beam into Mammoth's chest.

The Metahuman grunts but is mostly unaffected by the beam. He runs towards Tony who realizes that his Repulsor Ray is doing nothing so he uses his second one and combines it with the first. The end result is an even more powerful beam that stops Mammoth and starts pushing him back a few inches before he sinks his feet into the ground, stopping him.

 **"Sir, Repulsor Rays are failing to harm him."**

"Yes, JARVIS, I've noticed! Double the power!" The beams glow even brighter as they hit into Mammoth's chest, annoying the Metahuman over the increasing heat.

With a roar, Mammoth slams his palms together, creating a shockwave from the force, destroying the windows in every building for a two block radius, pushing back every vehicle into buildings or alleys and throwing back Iron Man who uses his repulsors to get back to his feet.

Unknown to the pair, Scorpia has gotten back up.

"Mammoth!"

As Tony flies into the air, a green bolt of enegy hits him in his back, surprising the billionaire and forcing him to fall back onto the floor on his stomach.

 **"Sir, we've been hit."**

"JARVIS, remind be to update your software when we get home."

 **"Of course, sir. Putting it on your 'To do list'."**

"Mammoth, where's Scorpia!" yelled Gizmo from another Eyebot.

Mammoth blinks and looks down to his left and sees that Scorpia isn't there anymore. "Uh oh."

"Damn right, uh oh! How are we suppose to get paid if you let the cunts get away!?"

Mammoth simply shrugs, having no other answer for the genius. Gizmo curses from wherever he's controlling his Eyebots. "Fine, just get out of there. No point getting caught again."

Tony quickly gets to his knee and aims his right arm at the Metahuman who reaches to press his ring. A small socket opens up on his forearm and fires a tiny chip into Mammoth's bodysuit. The chip latches on just in time as Mammoth vanishes from sight. The Eyebot cloaks itself and disappears from sight.

"And, that's how you do it" Tony praised himself as he gets back to his feet.

 **"Sir, director Fury is connecting."**

"No, wait! Disconnect!"

"Hello, Tony" spoke Nick Fury as a picture of him appears in Tony's HUD.

"Ah~, director. What do I deserve the honour?"

Fury ignores Tony's blatant regard of sarcasm. "Did you capture the target?"

"The giant? Nope, ran off before I could really do anything. You know, priorities."

"God's sake, Stark! I would've thought that you of all people would've been able to handle Rhino!"

Tony opens his mouth to make a comeback but stops when he hears Fury's full remark. "Come again? Rhino?"

"Yes! Rhino, the big guy who just ran out of S.T.A.R. Labs with a Quantum Influx Device! A dangerous device if left in the wrong hands, if I might add but I'm sure you already knew of that."

Under the helmet, Tony sweats and he swears that he just heard JARVIS sigh. "If it makes you feel any better, I put a tracking chip on the big guy from Akatsuki."

"Do you have their location?" Tony isn't sure but Nick almost sounds like he doesn't believe him. Just because S.H.I.E.L.D. can't find him doesn't mean that he can't. He's Tony Stark! Billionaire genius philanthropist! He believe the nerve of some people!

"Of course I-"

 **"Sir, I can't find a reading on the tracker. It is either out of bounds or has been disabled."** JARVIS helpfully told Tony.

"-don't" Tony sighed.

"Uh huh. Keep an eye out for Rhino." Fury disconnects the call, leaving Tony in an awkward state of... awkwardness.

 **"Sir-"**

"Please, JARVIS. Just... don't."

 **( Unknown Location )**

"Let me out! I didn't do anything!"

A soldier hits the butt of his rifle against the cage, silencing the seventeen year old girl within it. "Shut up, Mutant!" he said in nothing but disgust.

"Let us out!"

"What's going on!?"

"I want mommy!"

From his office on the second floor, overlooking the steel cages full of Mutants of all ages, William Stryker grins, seeing all his work finally come to fruition. _"Soon, I will have produced the perfect soldier. My work will bask in fruition."_

Ignoring the cries of the Mutants, he turns and sits on his chair and starts updating his journal for the day.

"You're one cold bastard."

Stopping his typing, William glances over to the couch in the corner of his office where Sabretooth is idly lying on. "Don't you have more Mutants to catch?"

"I got you six today. I'm due a bit of time off" shrugged the Metahuman, uncaring over the glare Stryker is throwing his way.

"The less time you spend on getting me my Mutants, the slower my project progresses. Do I have to send Deathstrike to do your work?"

Sabretooth shows his lack of caring by shrugging. "You can but do you really want to risk the chance of getting your little toy caught?" he smirked, showing his sharp fangs that glint against the overhead light.

William glares at the Metahuman who chuckles in response. "At least she's professional."

Sabretooth chokes out a laugh. "You got me there at least. What I wouldn't give for a stick up my own ass. A man can dream" he sighed.

William rubs his eyes to calm the incoming headache that Sabretooth is giving him on purpose. While he gets the job done, he's highly immature and is proud of it. At least he's worth the money.

"Can you just... get out" sighed William in defeat.

Knowing he won their war of words, Sabretooth hops to his feet and heads out the door, waving his hand over his head. "Sure thing, boss."

The sarcasm isn't loss to the Colonel but he doesn't want any reason for the Mutant to come back in and annoy him so William simply leans into his seat as the door closes behind Sabretooth. He looks up at the ceiling, happy to be finally alone with his thoughts. _"It'll be worth it in the end. I just know it."_

 **( Unknown Location )**

"Are you ready to fulfill your end of the deal, human?" spoke a cold and raspy voice from a figure hidden underneath a dark cloak.

Standing on the small, floating piece of land in the middle space he 'human' nods, chuckling slightly. "Do not fret. I'll get the job done and when I do, I expect you to provide your end of the bargain" he said, not towards the cloaked figure beside him but to the figure sitting on a floating throne.

"DO NOT SPE-"

The cloaked figure's hiss comes to a halt when the giant on the throne raises a large hand. It drops to the armrest as the figure leans back into their thrown and smirks, power radiating off him in droves. "Unlike others, I follow up with my deals. Get me the Cube and you shall have the measly planet for yourself."

The human drops down to his knees, showing his loyalty to the figure on the throne. "It shall be done, Lord Thanos."

Thanos smirks as he watches the human follow his most loyal follower to the entry point in which he will transport to earth. Thus begins the start of the hunt over the Infinity Stones.

 **( Manhattan - Unknown Location )**

Rhino pants in exhaustion and drops the Quantum Influxer to the floor in the warehouse. "I... got what... you asked... for" he panted with his hands on his knees.

"Watch it you idiot! That is a delicate piece of machinery. Don't just drop it at your feet like it's a toy!"

"It's heavy" moaned Rhino.

A metallic limb shoots out and grabs onto the Quantum Influxer before another helps to carry the large machine. The limbs lift the object so the owner can get a better look at it.

"Yes. This will do nicely" chuckled Doctor Octavius as he uses his metallic limbs to carry himself and the Quantum Influxer to his workbench. "Where's your partner by the way? I didn't see her come in with you."

"Maybe cause I came in from the window."

Rhino and Doctor Octopus look over their heads to see Scorpia using her scorpion tail to swing off of a support beam on the ceiling. Octavius doesn't miss the bruises and blood all over her body. His genius mind quickly concludes that his partners had a run in with the Akatsuki, if Scorpia's injuries are anything to go by. There is the chance that it's the Justice League but he knows that they are laying low after the government pretty much gave them up like yesterday's garbage.

"Good. I was worried that you got arrested" said Octavius using his real and metallic limbs to play with his newest piece of machinery.

Scorpia scoffs. "Yea, right. You were just worried that I might rat you out to the feds."

The scientist looks up from his work and raises a brow from behind his sunglasses. "Wouldn't you?"

"That's not the point."

"Sure it isn't. Let's just hope that the others can finish their end. If everything goes according to plan, we'll have the world eating out of our hands by the end of this month" chuckled Doctor Octavius as he fidgets with his newest piece of equipment.

 **Akatsuki Members: Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Red Hood, Poison Ivy, Mammoth, Gizmo, Ghost Rider, Captain Cold, Heatwave, Loki.**

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